


Royal Guard-Book 1-The Servant

by The_Emerald_Scribe



Series: Royal Guard [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fantasy, Fiction, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magic, Midevil vibes, Minor Violence, Monsters, Multi, No Smut, Original Fiction, POV First Person, Past Tense, Princes & Princesses, all female main cast, cause FEMINISM, don't at me, i originally wrote this when i was like 11, im sorry, its a school for princesses, its also a huge self insert, there's romance if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25731259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Emerald_Scribe/pseuds/The_Emerald_Scribe
Summary: I lived in a land of myth, magic, and monsters. And there was one monster who was more terrible than any beast. Rummers from the villages told of it burning crops, homes, and people. All it would leave was rubble and ash. Pure destruction. Many had ventured out to kill it, but none had succeeded. It was unstoppable. The villagers called it the demon, the devil. The Dragon.I called her Paige.(Arce Academy is a school for heirs, but there are secrets hidden behind these walls. And people are willing to die and kill for them.)(Guys i originally wrote this story when I was literally 11, so im sorry and pls be nice)
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: Royal Guard [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866478
Kudos: 1





	1. Table of Contents

**Table of Contents**

(Archive Ch. #) - (Book Ch. #) - (Speaker) - (Ch. title)

1 - Table of Contents

2 - Prologue 

3 - Ch. 1 - Paige - The First Day of Ninth Grade 

4 - Ch. 2 - Paige - So I Didn't Die 

5 - Ch. 3 - Ivy - I Hate History

6 - Ch. 4 - Paige - Inbetweenness

7 - Ch. 5 - Rayna - Tournament Time

8 - Ch. 6 - Olivia - Escape Plan

9 - Ch. 7 - Ivy - Truths and Secrets 

10 - Ch. 8 - Autumne - (not) Alone in the Woods

11 - Ch. 9 - Paige - The Tower

12 - Ch. 10 - Espie - The Tunnels

13 - Ch. 11 - Rayna - The Book

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Table of Contents will be updated when i add the next chapter :)


	2. Prologue

I lived in a land of myth, magic, and monsters. And there was one monster who was more terrible than any beast. Rummers from the villages told of it burning crops, homes, and people. All it would leave was rubble and ash. Pure destruction. Many had ventured out to kill it, but none had succeeded. It was unstoppable. The villagers called it the demon, the devil. The Dragon.

I called her Paige.


	3. Ch. 1 - Paige - The First Day of Ninth Grade

Two years ago…

I couldn’t breath. 

Well, I could, but every time I took in air it felt like my lungs were being scorched from the inside. Everything hurt. My feet felt like I was walking on coals. My hands were covered in blisters and bloodied scrapes. 

Blood. Blood was everywhere. It was running down my leg and pooling in my upturned palms. It made my head swim, my stomach churn.  _ I don’t remember being afraid of blood. _

_ Where am I? _

I looked around but there's nothing but clouds of darkness. They encircled me, blasting hot air. I took a step back and suddenly my heel was slipping over the edge of a cliff. I wobbled forward and collapsed onto my hands and knees, but the ground beneath me cracked under my weight, shards of it burning into my flesh. 

Then it was fire. Fire all around me. Screams grew louder. Crashing buildings and hoof steps racing. It was surrounding me too, just past the flames.  _ So close _ , but I could only see fire. 

“Don’t worry!” A voice called out to me, cutting through the chaos. It sounded scared. “ _ I’m coming _ !”

I jolted awake. 

I was in my bed… breathing hard… staring up at the ceiling. My room was quiet, just murmurs of people walking downstairs. There was no fire, no blood, no one calling out to me. 

_ A dream _ . It was a dream. I groaned and covered my eyes with my hands. Well that was a great way to wake up.

Then my alarm clock decided to go off, and its tinny ringing filled the morning silence. I groaned again and swung my arm over to smack the top of it, shutting it up. I shifted and blearily looked at the time, suddenly feeling much more tired now that I actually had to get out of bed.  _ 6 am. September 5th, 6 am _ . Time for work. 

I sighed, “Alright. Here we go.”

I threw off my warm and inviting quilts, and the morning air hit me cold and wet like ice water. I reluctantly pulled myself up off my bed and trudged over to my little desk by my window. I took my comb and started yanking the tangles out of my hair. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but there was enough light in the sky to dimly illuminate my small bedroom.

And it was just bright enough for me to see a fat scruffy-looking cardinal land on the branch outside my window and peck at the glass a couple times. He only had one eye but he turned his head sideways and looked up at me expectantly with it. Then he flapped off for a few seconds before flying back and hitting himself straight into the glass. He teetered a little bit on the branch before shaking his feathers flat again and looking back up at me. 

I snorted in a half laugh, “You’re a bit late this morning, Philbert.” He just blinked with his one eye and then pecked at the glass some more. Philbert had been coming to my window every morning at 6 am for the past year, ramming himself into it and delightfully waking me up. Carter told me that cardinals are very territorial but also very stupid. They apparently think that their reflection in the glass is another bird and try to fight it. Thomas said that its just a dumb bird and it'll kill itself by doing that. That, or I've been feeding him since I've become attached. Which I totally haven't been doing.

But… since there were a couple stale crumbs leftover from a roll I snuck up into my room last night, I swept them into my hand, propped open the window just enough for me to dumb the crumbs onto the outside sill, and pulled down the frame again before more cold air could get in. 

Philbert continued to peck at the glass for a good minute or so afterwards before finally noticing the crumbs and eating them up. 

In the meantime, I got ready. Once my long hair was all brushed out and a poofy frizzy mess, I tied it back in the traditional servants’ braid with an old green ribbon. Then I shimmed off my pajamas and started pulling on the many layers of my uniform. First was the simple chemise underdress. Then it's my white blouse. Whitney would tease and call it a pirate shirt because of the puffed sleeves, but she was just exaggerating. The sleeves on the blouse tie off just past the elbow so I don’t drag them through the dirt. My favorite part was the pocket bags. I tied them around my waist over the blouse to keep it from bunching up under my vest. I sewed the bags myself so they were extra big. Ivy and I tested it out once, and I could fit four potatoes in each of them. It didn’t look very stubble, but I  _ could _ do it. The skirt that went on top of it all was a dark navy blue and made out of a thick weave so I would stay warm in the winter months. And it’s hem ended just above my ankles so I would be able to run up and down stairs without face planting. It also had small openings at my sides so I could slip my hands into my pocket bags for any quills, bandages, or if my hands just got cold. Finally, I buttoned up my brown vest and secured the whole ensemble with a thick leather belt. 

Even though in early fall it could still get pretty warm in Castiland, I was “legally required by the manual” to wear stockings all year. I hated the stockings. They were hot and itchy in the fall and spring, but then during the winter the cold would blow right through them so I would have to layer thick wool socks on top. Thankfully, I got to wear my leather boots for work. They were pretty worn out, but I polished off all the mud for the start of the new school year. My job had me on my feet all day, so the Headmaster allowed us comfortable footwear.  _ Suck it _ professors who had to wear heels.

The finishing touches were the school pin and my necklace. The small gold pin was the crest of the school: Arce Academy. And before you ask, it was pronounced “ARC” Academy. Not “Arse” Academy. Though honestly the latter was more popular. The pin had a willowy tree on it growing from a crown at its base. Inscribed in the band around it was: Unity in Knowledge. All in all,  _ very _ symbolic. All servants working at the Academy were required to wear a pin like such. To work here was very prestigious, and the Headmaster said that the crest should unite us as a common force, building better futures for our land. We couldn't sell the pins for much money anyway. They weren’t made with solid gold. People checked. 

My necklace was a different story. It was just a small rounded emerald gem on a twine chain. The stone itself was no bigger than my pinky nail. However, I knew it was worth at least one hundred gold pieces. I would never sell it, though. I didn’t remember where I got it from, but I'd always had it. It was like my good luck charm. And when you grow up surrounded by the richest people in the land, you kinda want to have something that's a little nice. And not a handy-down. 

By the time I had grabbed my satchel, laced my shoes, waved goodbye to Philbert, and was out the door—the Servants Quarters was bustling. Most were getting up and getting ready like me. I had to push my way to a sink in the bathroom so I could wash my face and brush my teeth before racing to the kitchen. 

I’d missed the morning chaos before work. All of the servants had moved back in about a week ago in preparation for the coming school year, but nothing compared to the organized pandemonium of arrival-day morning. Graham, the school’s resident fat-old-angry chef, was bustling in the kitchen, serving up plates of scrambled eggs and pancakes as quickly as we were wolfing them down. The robust hearth and the burning stove warmed up the big cramped house. As did the forty or so bodies crowded around the long dining table. 

Arce Academy had at least two hundred servants working on a given day. Most were commuters from the nearby town of Pennbrooke. The rest of us were residents in the Servants Quarters on the grounds. The Servants Quarters was like a mansion compared to normal houses. It had three stories with two fireplaces and a massive cellar. It was built in the old Villeurvanne style, where the ground floor was made from cobblestone and the upper floors were built with exposed wooden framing and plastered walls. From the outside, the upper floors overhung slightly and the whole house looked like it's going to fall over with a strong gust of wind. It had been a fixer-upper for the last twenty years. Shingles were missing, some shutters didn't hang straight, almost all of the paint had worn off. But I loved the old Quarters. It's my home. 

A few of the younger servants, around six or seven years old, were chasing each other between the legs of the older workers. One of the valets joked about giving the kids coffee this early. A group of the guardsmen tried to sneak in and steal some bacon from the table but Maylee, our one and only Housekeeper, shooed them off with a threatening wave of her clipboard. It was loud and crowded and perfect. 

As more people started to make their way downstairs, I squeezed my way onto the bench at the table next to a familiar flop of blonde hair. I flicked him in the back of the head as I did so. 

“Hey!” Carter looked over to me and shoved my shoulder in return. “Good mornin’ to ya too.”

“You didn’ tell me you were back!” I complained to him as I started filling my plate with muffins and bacon and strawberries and eggs and so much food.  _ Crowns _ , I loved it when Graham cooked for us. Carter himself had a massive pile of pancakes on his plate completely drowned in syrup. Normally, breakfast was either self made or an apple on your way out. But since today was the first day of school, Graham had put together a special treat. 

“I got back real late last night. Or I guess technically this morning. You were probably dead asleep,” he explained between bites. Carter did look extremely tired now that I got a better look at him. His skin was paler than normal, he had deep bags under his eyes. And he had a big cup of black coffee, which he would normally avoid since it would make him all jittery. 

“Why’re you up then?” I asked as I shoved food into my mouth.

“I’ve to leave again this mornin’. Nother message, but this time I’m just headed up to Synth. It'll be real quick. Two weeks tops. Oh! But I need to tell ya about Minero before I go!” Carter excitedly shifted towards me, swallowing the last of his breakfast before he broke out in his latest tale of adventure. “Okay, so the ship I'm on hit a storm in the middle of the voyage. I helped tie up the sails DURING the storm and then the capt’n landed us at a nearby deserted island. With monkeys. And Minero’s beautiful. I didn’ get pickpocketed this time but I got to see the soldiers there stop a robbery which was exciting. But — _ Arveles _ — it was hot!” 

Carter was the personal page for the Headmaster. He got to travel all across Irisia delivering “secret messages” to “dangerous people.” Or so he says. Really it's just letters about the school and boring reports. Carter lived for the adventure, but I did freak out a little every time he would leave. He’s my brother. Well, basically my brother. Us and Whitney all grew up together at Arce. They’d looked out for me since I was a baby. Whitney was the eldest. She left a couple years ago to study becoming a teacher at a university up in Ridire Ceo. I still got letters from her about books I should absolutely read. And whenever Carter got an assignment in the kingdom, he would go and visit her. He and Whitney were related by blood. Both of house Carroll. But they were orphans like me, so growing up we understood each other. 

Carter himself was only two years older than me but already a foot taller. And I was pretty tall for my age. Since we were both from Castiland, we sorta passed for blood related. We both had caucasian skin and when we were talking to each other, we would slip into the classic Castiland accent. Everywhere else called it the “Muddled Tongue.” Very much how peasants talk, so on the job we would tend to stray away from talking like that. 

That was about where the similarities ended, though. Carter had sky blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair that he was constantly pushing out of his face. He finally hit his growth spurt so he was freakishly tall. His uniform was similar to mine with the white undershirt and vest, but he (sadly) had to wear trousers instead of a skirt. His gold pin was also different. It was a little rolled scroll with a ribbon around it. It gave him special passage across borders as a Royal Page. He also always had his leather satchel with him. When he got the job, Whitney and I saved up to buy him a new bag. He then gave me his as a handy-down since I’m always in need of more pockets. Right now, it was tucked away at my feet. 

As he kept going on about Minero, a young servant girl approached me with a brush in her hand. It was Elli, a six year old page. This would be her first year at Arce. She pulled at my sleeve and I nodded, turning around on the bench so I could start brushing out her hair and tying it back in the braid. 

“You’re going to do great,” I whisper to her as I tied off her hair. When she didn’t respond, I tickled her sides, making her laugh. Elli then sat up on my lap and started stealing some of my strawberries as I turned back to Carter. 

“So you’re with Ivy in 9th grade now? I heard that class is getting three new students this year. That’ll make it the biggest in the school,” Carter said as he started cleaning up his plate. 

“I know right? I can’t believe how big Arce’s gotten these last couple of years.”

“Do ya think they’ll start paying us more then?”

I laughed at that. “Nah, ya know they’ll just hire more.”

Then a loud banging sounded throughout the room. We all turned to Maylee who was holding a ladle on one hand and an upturned pot in the other. “FIVE MINUTES,” she yelled to the room. 

Immediate panic erupted. Everyone at the table shoveled the last bit of food into our mouths before rushing out the door. Elli hopped off my lap and started following the mob as I picked up my satchel. Carter just smiled from his seat, drinking his coffee and watching us all run around crazy. 

He smiled at me peacefully. “Have fun.” 

“Thanks,” I deadpanned. “See ya in two weeks?”

“Yup.”

I started towards the door and called back to him, “Stay safe then!”

“You too!”

And I was out the door. The cool morning air washed over me again, this time accompanied by the September fog and the sound of crickets awakening. I followed the rest of the servants around the back of the main building and to the front gate of Arce. There Maylee — and I have no idea how she got ahead of us, honestly she's just scary like that — was waiting with her clipboard at the stop of the stairs to the Main Hall. With a voice much louder than what you would think could come out of such a petite woman, she called out our groups. 

“Cooks! Kitchen Maids! Stewards and Sculleries! With Graham to the far left! Grounds Hands! Stable Keepers and Stable Boys! With Sebastian to the far right!” She positioned all of us around the massive circle driveway that ran up and around the ancient oak tree at the front of the school. It's been a tradition to have all staff out to greet the incoming students every year. It's a complete show of wealth by the school. Two hundred servants at your beck and call. But it's also a show of power, by us. It shows the students from the moment they arrive that  _ we outnumber them. _

“Valets and Handmaidens! Center right with Marcel!” 

I quickly dashed over to the rest of my group where Marcel, the Butler of the Academy, arranged us by height. I took my position near the back as the rest of my group filled in. In the meantime, the rest of the mob waiting at the base of the stairs slowly diminished until we were all organized into our nice little troops. 

Thomas propped his elbow on my head, leaning against me. “Creck, I hate doing this.”

I poked him in the armpit, causing him to flinch back and get off me. “Language. And its tradition.”

“Its stupid. And it's not like any of the brats would do the same for us.” He crossed his arms and huffed like an annoyed five year old. Thomas was a valet, the male equivalent of my position: a handmaiden. Because of that and how he was in between Carter and me in age, we hung out. We were friends, though he’d never admit it. Thomas had only been working at Arce for a couple of years, and he had always been looking for “better and higher places.” 

“It doesn't work that way, and you know that. Anyway, who do you have this year?”

“One of the 12th years. Cedi of Itarsi.”

“Oh I’ve heard good things about him. He’s nice. I’m sure you guys will get along well.”

“You’re too optimistic.”

I shrugged at him, poking him in the side again. “Someone has to be.”

Then a hush fell over the chatting crowd. All eyes turned to the open doors of the Main Hall. There stood in the doorway was the Headmaster: Queen Rose of Synth.

She elegantly made her way down the steps and to the base of the great oak tree, so we were positioned in a semicircle around her. Everyone stood at attention. The Headmaster always had an aura of confidence and quiet mischief around her, the kind you only see in rulers far beyond her age. She had olive brown skin and stormy grey eyes that I swear cracked lightning when she was angry. She wore a long blood red gown, trimmed with whie fur. The Headmaster kept her hair short, shorter than most men’s, but still so elegant. It was raven black and kept well trimmed so her bangs never reached her eyebrows. A golden circlet was the singular reminder of her position as Queen of the northern bordering kingdom. 

“Good morning everyone,” she smiled at all of us. “Before all of the heritors arrive, I just wanted to thank you all personally for all of the hard work and time you have put into preparing this academy for the students. All of you are the heart and life force of this school. I can never give you enough credit for your work. But I can say that I am honored to be standing here before you all. 

“For those of you who have not worked with us before, or for those of you who have been here for so long that you’ve quite forgotten.” She jokingly raised an eyebrow at Sebastain who chuckled and raised his hand, the stable hands around him laughed and nudged in the side. “Arce Academy was founded twenty years ago, and at that time it was seen as nothing more than a foolish experiment. A school for royals. A school for heritors. A place where there are no borders, just opportunities for children to learn and grow. To learn not just about their own kingdom, but all of the kingdoms in Irisia. Today, on our twentieth anniversary since opening, I am unbelievably proud to announce that we will have sixty-four students in attendance. This milestone is only possible because of all of you. Each and everyone of you, from the smallest page,” she motioned to the small cluster of six and seven year olds at the front who started jumping up and waving. We all gave a massive cheer for them. “To the greatest Housekeeper.” We all erupted in applause. Maylee blushed furiously and gave a small curtsy. “You all have made this dream a reality. This foolish experiment, a great success. And because of your efforts, I  _ know _ this school will continue to grow and prosper for many more years to come.” Queen Rose of Synth bowed to us servants, and an army of two hundred bowed to our leader. She raised her head and smiled at us. “Now, for Unity in Knowledge!”

“For Irisia!” We all chorus in response. 

The Headmaster turned to Maylee and they made their way back into the main building as the rest of us returned to chatting excitedly, or nervously, to those around us. And just moments after the morning sun rose up over the east guards tower, a steward near the front gate shouted out: “First carriage!” 

The first in a long chain of golden and bronze, double horse drawn carriages made its way through the open gate and down around the curved path. And like a wave rippling through the sea, each and every servant bowed to the passing cars. Soon the footmen set to work, opening doors, guiding princes and princesses, dukents and countents, lordlents and all different types of heritors down from their gilded carriages to the open doors of Arce Academy. The horses and carts were then whisked away so luggage could be taken to the dorms. 

The students themselves were a sight to behold. Most peasants only caught glimpses of their mighty rulers in passing parades or textbook portraits. But here, I got to see them up close. Decorated in jewels and satins and silks. For the first day, everyone always dressed up. Crowns and gowns and metals. So untouchable, but also so real. Cause I knew that tomorrow, after staying up all night talking to everyone in their dorm, that the high heels would be replaced with socks (literally no shoes when going to class) and all the pins and prestige would turn into cotton trousers and comfy sweaters. 

I locked eyes with Ivy then, right as she was walking with the rest of the students into the Main Hall. I smiled at her and her eyes brightened. Her smile then flashed into an evil grin and she subtly flicked me off as she walked past. I choked and my mouth dropped. Ivy cackled cause she knew with all of the other heritors around, I couldn't call her out. I puffed up my cheeks in frustration and she flashed a bright smile at me. Before she disappeared behind the big brass doors, she raised her hands to me, and quickly signed “garden”: one hand sprouting up from the other, and “wall”: both hands sliding together across the invisible flat surface. I nodded to her and she gave me a thumbs up. 

Eventually, the final heritor passed into the hall, and the footmen closed the doors behind them. We all remained silent, looking around at each other expectantly. Then Maylee reappeared under the great oak, she whistled once to get our attention and then clapped twice. The army of two hundred dispersed. Disappearing into the walls of the academy, off to do our duties for the crown. 

I patted Thomas on the shoulder and gave him a passing salute as we headed in opposite directions. He smirked and gave me a small salute back. 

I swiftly made my way around the back of the Main Hall, to where the kitchen gardens were located. A small cobblestone wall surrounded the raised beds of herbs and vegetables. There Ivy was lending against it, twirling her silver circlet around her finger. As I approached she looked up at me and a grin broke out on her face. “Paige!” I ran the rest of the way and we hugged each other. 

When we pulled away, I lightly punched her in the shoulder. “That's for flicking me off!”

Ivy barked out a laugh. “Oh come on, that was great. You should have seen your face.”

Princess Ivandria of Synth was my best friend. I had only been her handmaiden for a couple of years, but we had been inseparable since first grade. She was the only daughter of the Headmaster. Her tan skin and raven hair matched that of the Queen. But Ivy grew her pitch black hair long, and always kept it pulled off her face in a ponytail. Her eyes were a hazel-grey, and sharp like a sword’s blade. Her face and neck were dotted with little moles, like reverse constellations. She was a couple marks shorter than me, which I reveled in, but strength wise Ivy always had me beat. Her arms were practically ripped because she spent so much time training with a longbow. And no matter the weather or season, she always wore black. 

“Soooo, how was your summer?”

Ivy crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. “So boring. I mainly just ate and slept all day.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the future Queen of Synth!” 

Ivy smirked and playfully flicked me off again. “But yeah, things have been okay. I can finally talk about the trade meeting now that all of the deals are final.”

“How’d it go then?”

“It sucked. Mihir was there for some of it. Made it hell on earth. The whole committee lasted  _ months _ . Just planning, arguments, replanning, more arguments. Ughhhh.” She rubbed her face with her hands. “What about you? break any hearts while I was gone?”

I snorted at that. “Nope. But Portley’s harvest was great this season and the Winnel but on three full plays so I actually have a little bit extra this fall.” 

“Hey that’s awesome! Oh, you gotta sneak me out to one of the Winnel shows this year.”

“If you make sure we don’t get caught then it's a deal.” I sat up on the wall and swung my legs off of it. I could see the smoke starting to rise from the kitchen chimneys in the main building, and a few stable boys taking the horses to get fed and watered before the carriages were sent back. 

“Oh here, before I forget.” I reached into my satchel and brought out a small brown-paper wrapped parcel. “Happy belated Birthday!”

“Oh, Paige, you didn’t need to.” Ivy shoved my arms playfully before taking the parcel and starting to rip open the paper. 

“Don't thank me just yet, they were going to throw it out of the library cause it's falling apart so much. I bought it really cheap.” 

Ivy revealed the worn and tattered book from the wrapping paper. She traced her fingers over the imprinted leather cover before flipping it open. Immediately several loose pages fell out of the binding and onto the grass. “Oh shit!” She dived down and started collecting the pages. I jumped off the wall and helped her.

“But the pages are numbered,” I offered.

She smiled back at me, neatly placing the papers back between the covers and closing the book. “ _ Good _ .” 

“It's a very gorey murder mystery. Whitney recommended.”

“I literally can’t wait.” She gave me a quick hug. “Thank you!”

We started walking side by side aimlessly following the garden wall. Ivy talked a little bit more about the diplomatic trip she took with her mother. The council rooms were boring, but the western beaches were beautiful and no rain, so basically the opposite of dreary Synth. I tried to explain the theater play that I helped paint the set for during the summer, it was some existential drama that was one huge metaphor for the government or whatever. She thought it sounded hilarious. Eventually Ivy nudged me with her elbow, her hands shoved into the pockets of her dress. "Have you thought about the offer?" 

I tugged at the end of my braid. “Um, I mean, I’m not-I’m really grateful for the offer and-”

“Hey, it's okay! No worries. Besides, my mom doesn’t even need a decision until the end of the school year. You’ve got literal months to figure it out.” Ivy picked up her pace as we got closer to the Main Hall. “We should get back. Brunch is starting right? And I’m starving.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll see you after your classes then.” We waved goodbye and headed for the kitchen back door and Ivy went around to the front. 

I was a handmaiden, considered respected for my close association with a heritor, but the kitchen staff... they were in a league of their own. Right after I entered the door I was harshly pushed to the side as kitchen maids rushed past with massive bowls and baskets filled with ingredients. On the opposite side of the room, stewards dashed through the swinging doors leading to the Dining Hall, balancing plates of food. In one and out the other, like perfect clockwork. A parade of bread pudding, roasted ham, buttery muffins, Croque-monsieurs, and every type of egg flew past leaving mouth-watering scents after them. From earthy mushrooms to warm herb-rolls, every type of meal ever invented came out of the kitchen. Sculleries toiled at sinks, scrubbing dishes clean and pounding knots out of bread. A young boy with soot on his face and bare feet knelt at the base of the burning stone hearth, feeding it wood and tending the ashes. 

Graham marched around like a king in his Castle, shouting orders and dipping tiny spoons into every dish to taste before judging. His apron was already splattered with sauces and soups, coloring him like a canvas. But you could still make out the words “Don’t Kiss the Cook. Get Back to Work” stitched into it. 

I tried to skirt around the edge of the room, over to where swinging double doors lead to the Dining Hall. But before I made it, one of the assistant cooks noticed me. “HOLD IT!” She huffed the massive bowl of eggs she was whisking up onto her hip and marched over to me, threateningly waving a wooden spoon. “Young lady, if you think you’re going to sneak into that pantry again I will-”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Relax Barbrite! I just wanted to see how far along they were with the introduction ceremony. Then I’m headed over to the girl’s dorms.” 

The older woman raised an eyebrow and started viscous whipping the eggs. “Likely story.”

“Its true!” Just in time to save me, one of the stewards burst through the door, arms loaded with empty platters. “Dwel! Perfect timing!” 

The young boy turned to face me, “Paige! What are you doing here?”

“Have they started yet? I was talking with Iv-Princess Ivy and I wanted to make sure I didn’t make her late.”

“Oh no worries.” He lifted up the stacks of dishes above his head as more stewards ducked around him to exit. “Everyone just got seated. The Headmaster hasn’t even started her speech yet. Are you going to stay for it?”

“Oh no. I’ll just leave then.” I waved him off. “It's the same speech every year. I can practically recite it myself.” I coughed and straightened my shoulders. “Princes and Princesses. Heirs of all kinds-”

“Statures, actually.”

I froze.

Dwel bowed sharply, almost banging his face into his own serving dish. Barbarite curtsied sweetly, speaking like an angel, "My Queen." Before grinning at me like the devil. 

I turned slowly around to see the Headmaster smiling amused down at me, a half eaten apple in her one hand. “Princes and Princesses. Heirs of all statures. Welcome to our humble academy,” Queen Rose recited. “I know imitation is the highest form of flattery, but it’d be best to memorize your lines before the performance.” Barb snorted behind me before walking off towards her works station again. Dwel not-so-nonchalantly scooped up a dish of stack pastries and then scurried out the doors. 

“Your Majesty,” I curtsied. “I am so sorry.”

She laughed it off. “It's alright Paige. I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She leaned down to me and stage whispered. “I hate writing speeches, so I just reuse this one. And since I’m a queen, no one is going to stop me.” She flashed me a devilish smile that reminded me a lot of Ivy. I let out a relieved chuckle. 

“Ah, now I mustn’t keep them waiting.” She winked at me. “You know how spoiled royals can be.” 

I bowed to her as she exited through the doors to the Dining Hall, making her graceful accent to the head table. Through the crack in the doorway, I watched her raise her arms to the quieting crowd of students. “Princes and Princesses. Heirs of all statures…”

I backed away front the door as more stewards started moving past. But before I could get to the back door, I was stopped again. One of the sculleries jumped in front of me with a worried look on her face. “Paige! Are you busy right now?”

“Uhhhh-” I had to go grab Ivy’s clean bed linens from the laundry room, then check that all of her luggage arrived at her dorm, make her bed, unpack her items, send any clothing down to be ironed- “I have a few minutes. What's up?”

She let out a sigh. “Okay great. We’re out of rosemary. I need-” she grabbed my hands and positioned them into an open fist, like I was holding an invincible staff. “-that much. Got it? Oh and don’t forget an apron.”

I nervously looked down at my hands and then back up at her. “Okay?” I did my best to memorize how much “that much” rosemary was and grabbed an apron on my way out the back door to the kitchen gardens. 

Once I was outside, I took a deep breath of the quiet air. When I was about eight, I was a scullery girl. And I had completely forgotten just how  _ intense _ the kitchen is. The back gardens were much more peaceful. 

The kitchen gardens curved around from the back of the main kitchen to the side of the Dining Hall, where massive arched windows allowed the seated royals to watch as the ingredients for their meals were grown and picked. Graham took the highest pride in the gardens. The raised beds made a geometric maze, leading you to the open gazebo in the center that housed the well. 

By now, it was reaching eleven in the morning. The sunlight had evaporated all of the morning mist, and song birds were darting across the cloudless sky. I diligently tied the apron around my waist, washed my hands in the well, and started picking rosemary. 

I had only gotten half of “that much” rosemary when a shadow passed over me. I turned around, but no one else was in the garden. Suddenly, I couldn’t hear any song birds or crickets. It was too quiet. The silence before a storm. 

That silence shattered with the sound of the bell. A loud tolling that echoed across the grounds like a death knell. Each dragged out  _ KONG _ was repeated urgently. My heart rate started to beat faster and faster. I made a mad dash to the covered villa, dropping all of my gathered herbs. My foot caught on one of the beds, sending me crashing to the stone path, scraping up my palms. I scrambled back to my feet and ducked under the gazebo’s roof, gripping to one of the wooden pillars. 

Four knells. That meant one thing: Arce Academy was under attack. 

A monster was spotted.

My name was Paige. I was a servant at Arce Academy. I lived in a land of myth and majesties, and  _ monsters _ . A land called Irisia. A land where magic was illegal. And a land where none of this was ever supposed to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all of the exposition dump. next chapter will have a bit of action


	4. Ch. 2 - Paige - So I Didn't Die

I could just barely hear the muffled commotion coming from the Dining Hall. Heritors were gathered at the large arched windows, trying to get a good look at the sky. Flights were more likely to attack since they could get over the wall that surrounded the grounds.

"Maybe it's just a drill," I whispered to myself. "On the first day of school. Probably just mixing things up a bit." 

Since the Banishment almost 300 years ago, monsters have been hunted down within the walls of Irisia. Now, some could go their whole lives without ever seeing one. But I’m never that lucky. 

Knights and soldiers started pouring into the garden, armed with swords and heavy metal shields. They all looked up at the sky expectantly. I carefully leaned my head out from under the cover villa and followed their gaze up into the clouds. A large shadow circled above, slowly sinking lower.

"Ready!"

The soldiers lined up, shields held up above their heads and archers standing under, positioning their bows between the cracks.

"Aim!"

Twenty archers drew back, all pointed directly at the circling shadow. I backed up, hiding deeper in the villa behind the stone well. 

"FIRE!"

Arrows shot up directly into the sky, hundreds of feet, disappearing behind a cover of clouds. For a single breath the whole world was silent.

"SHIELDS!"

The archers ducked under their roof of shields as a shower of arrows fell back down to earth. They plummeted into flower beds and stuck up from the grass. I heard a few thumps and looked up to see two arrow heads poking through the wood roof on the gazebo. 

Then it landed, not fell. 

A Hippogriff. Half hawk. Half mare. At least six feet in height, with wings that spread to more than double that. Brown feathers protruded at its razor sharp beak and covered it's head until around the monster's neck where the feathers blended with horse fur. The hippogriff flicked it's black tail back and forth angrily, scraping it's front talon into the ground. Its blazing yellow eyes were trained on the group of soldiers. Not a single arrow had pierced it's thick brown hide.

I had read about hippogriffs in the Irisian Bestiary, but I had never dreamed of actually seeing one. Still, this one looked … rough. It was covered in scars, some of them white and faded but most pink and fresh. Chunks of fur were missing and so were most of its feathers. It's beak looked chipped and—My heart caught in my throat — its legs were shackled. It could barely walk. 

The capture and imprisonment of monsters was illegal. They were deemed too dangerous to live. Instead, knights were ordered to kill on sight. I had heard so many tales of these powerful and deadly beasts, and the heroic defeat of them. But this creature, it struggled to stand. And it was outnumbered twenty to one. 

The guards repositioned themselves with shields facing towards the hippogriff and archers behind them advanced. The monster screeched out and unfolded its shredded wings to their full fifteen-foot length. It charged. 

The barricade of shielded soldiers wavered for a moment but continued to press on, shouting as the archers launched a volley of arrows at the beast. But at the last second before collision, the hippogriff leaped up into the air and caught wind, carrying it over the group of guards and landing on their other side. Now the monster stood between me and the soldiers. 

I crouched, frozen in terror as I watched the battle. The archers moved back, closer to the castle so their backs would be protected. The students were still staring in awe at the epic unfolding before their eyes behind the glass windows in the Dining Hall. The rest of the guards with swords and shields separated and advanced on multiple sides of the hippogriff.

The monster was surrounded but continued to fight. It kicked back with its hooves, knocking into shields and pushing back the soldiers. It was unbelievably quick, dodging swipes from swords while keeping a dozen or so men off it, but the constant rain of arrows kept the beast grounded. 

Finally, when the circle of soldiers tightened around the hippogriff and were about to finish it off, it spread its wings once more and started to thash them back and forth with such power it felt like a tornado. Leaves and flowers from the garden were ripped up and swirled in a torment of wind. I gripped onto the stone basin of the well to keep me grounded, but the soldiers weren't so lucky. They were blasted back, tumbling over themselves. Any arrows the archers shot flew madly off course, causing them to drop to the ground as their own ammo came flying back at them. 

Whatever light debris caught up in the hippogriff's wind burned to ashes and was swept up in the tornado of smoke. Sparks and embers flew off the ends of the monster's feathers and wings, mixing into the powerful torrent. 

Hippogriffs were children of mares and griffins, creatures of ash and smoke. Of Wind and fire. We never stood a chance. 

Then, in one final sweep of its wings, the monster settled the winds. Embers and ash fell silently like snow as the hippogriff stood alone in the garden, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from its beak and the tips of its feather. Guards and archers laid defeated on the ground, either unconscious or moaning as the beast slowly limped towards my hiding spot. It's chains dragging on the stone paths. 

I ducked behind the fountain's base, curled up with my knees pulled to my chest. The clopping of the hippogriff's hooves slowly getting closer. Then they stopped. 

I urged myself to peek out from behind the basin. It was gone. I almost sighed a breath of relief, but then a heavy _THUMP_ landed on the roof of the pavilion. I froze in horror as I heard the monster's feet _clop-scrrrap_ slowly on the wooden shingles. 

My heart pounded in my chest as its chains dragged slowly with each step until it stopped directly above me. I listened to its breath hitch while the hippogriff was smelling the air for a scent. My scent. It's one talon made a long scraping sound across wood. 

I squeezed my necklace in the palm of my hand, holding my breath as I waited for another sound. _Please, please go away,_ I pleaded. The edges of the emerald stone on my necklace started to cut into the palm of my hand as I squeezed it harder and harder. 

It squawked and my eyes flew open. The bird head of the monster was peeking out from over the edge of the roof. Looking. Right. At. Me. All I could do was watch in silent horror as the beast jumped down from the roof, and turned to face me. Its golden eyes locked onto mine, unblinking as its chains dragged closer and closer to me. _Clop-scrrrape. Clop-scrrrape._ Its head tilted to the side, curiously. The beast drew in so close I could see every tiny scar across its beak. The smell of rotten meat and smoke filled my lungs. I held my breath. 

Then its eyes darted past my head to the Dining Hall, where I knew almost a hundred royal children were gathered watching. It took a step past me, towards them. _No._

I skirted around the massive hippogriff, but it didn't care. It found a new target. 

“Hey! Over here!” I yelled at its backside, trying to draw back the monster’s attention. It didn't move. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and blew a piercing whistle. Its hawk head whipped around to me. That got its attention. _Okay stupid. Now what?_ I started backing away from the main building and it slowly followed. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the archers get back on his feet and draw his bow. The hippogriff screeched in pain as an arrow finally pierced its side, embedded halfway up the shaft. I ducked to the ground as its wings unfurled and the monster launched itself up into the sky, away from Arce. 

I shakily got back up on my feet as the archer ran up to me. “That wasn’t a killing blow. It could come back.” 

My heart was still beating rapidly. “Why would it?” 

The guard gritted his teeth and kept his eyes on the slowing shrinking dot of the hippogriff. “Revenge.”

I swallowed and turned my attention back to the garden before the dread could settle in my stomach. It was in ruins. Raised beds busted open, spilling dirt onto the pathways. Whole shrubs and bushes uprooted from the winds. Arrows poking up everywhere. Thankfully the other soldiers all started to stand. It looked like most only sustained some harsh bruises and scrapes.

“This is going to take forever to clean up,” I grumbled. 

The guard next to me laughed. “You just survived facing off against a hippogriff, and that's what you’re worried about? I’ll never understand you servants. 

Just then I heard a small commotion coming from the guards as a heritor about my age ran through the gardens towards me. _Crowns, what now?_ The knights stumbled after her, calling her to return to the safety of the Dining Hall. Everything about the girl was pale. From her skin, to her blonde hair, to her glass blue eyes. Her thin lips were drawn into a bright smile as she rushed towards me, a little off putting given what just happened. The front of her big lacy dress was bunched up in her arms so she could run at full stride. Her hair was braided around her head like a crown, and soft bangs cut straight across her forehead. She was a little bit plump but that in no way impeded how pretty she looked, it just made her look very soft and comforting.

And she was barreling straight for me.

“I cannot believe that actually happened! I’ve never seen one in the flesh!” Her voice carried a slight accent. Definitely from Villeurvanne. I just stood there in shock as she took my wrist and pressed her fingers to it. “Elevated heart rate and dilated pupils from the adrenaline. You should probably be sitting down right now.” 

One of the knights finally caught up with her. Poor guy was breathing heavily from the fight with the monster and now from chasing after a runaway student. “Princess Autumne, please go back inside.”

“I will, I will, but first,” She gripped my hand tightly, bright blue eyes boring into mine. “You have to tell me everything about that hippogriff.”

“I-uh-” I stuttered and took my hands away, then hissed as a pain shot up through my hands. I looked down at my palms to see them scratched up from when I tripped and small bloodied cuts from my fingernails and emerald digging into them. _Blood. I don’t remember being afraid of blood…_

“Are you alright?”

My head snapped up. “Yes. Sorry, I just had this weird dream…”

“Dream?” The guard next to me laughed. “What dream? You were attacked.”

Princess Autumne batted him away. “She must be in shock. Here, follow me. I’ll help clean you up.”

“Oh, no that is- your Highness, you don’t have to-” But she was already guiding me back to the main building. 

“Of course I do. Besides, you still haven't told me. The _hippogriff_.”

“It was, it um,” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “It had shackles.”

Autumne’s cheery face fell. “What? But that’s… definitely not allowed.” 

As we drew closer to the Learning Hall, three more girls burst through the doors. Ivy, Olivia, and Rayna. Rayna was the first to reach us. “That was so BAD-ASS! The thing started coming towards us and you stood up like ‘AHHH Come get me!’ and-”

“You could have gotten seriously hurt-” Olivia admonished me as Rayna kept barreling through.

“-then the guard dude rose up like a freaking zombie-”

“-you should have run from the beginning and let the guards deal with it-”

“-he fired off a single shot like * _ping_ * and the monster just shot off!” Rayna mimicked the bow and arrow.

“I’m just glad you’re safe,” Olivia sighed.

Ivy rested a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “Holy shit man.”

I let out a nervous but relieved laugh, “Yeah.”

Olivia and Rayna were both in Ivy’s grade. Both heir princesses. Both hailing from northern kingdoms. And both old friends of Ivy and me.

Olivia was the unofficial “mom” of our group. Even though she looked the youngest, she was by far the most mature. She had been sick a lot as a kid which stunted most of her growth and caused her to go partially deaf. Her ears were small, her nose was small. She as a person was small, barely reaching 5 foot 2. Her golden brown hair was thin like spider silk and she was so skinny despite being able to eat twelve courses in one sitting. Her skin was naturally tan, like Ivy’s, and she had large intelligent hazel eyes, made even larger by the massive round glasses she wore. Nowadays her health wasn’t an issue, but there are still scars left from that time, her partial deafness being one of them. But Olivia’s always had a way of finding the better side to things. One of those being teaching our friend group some basic sign language so we could secretly talk to each other across the halls. She also taught Rayna that “turtle” in sign language was a bad word, so whenever Rayna gets upset but can’t show it, she’ll violently sign “turtle” over and over again. Olivia can barely keep a straight face when she does. 

Rayna was the chaotic one. There’s a reason why they call her people “The Berserkers.” She was 15, a year older than the rest of us, since she attended the Gravesell Knight’s Academy as a kid and that held her back a grade when she transferred. Those years training with her greatsword built her up so she was stronger and taller than anyone in her class (Though we always argue who is actually taller between the two of us). She had honey blonde hair that was a constant mess of curls and tangles, like she had been sailing. Her caucasian skin has seen the wear and tear of many duels. And her eyes were as blue and deep as the northern seas that surround her kingdom. I had only known her since 6th grade, but her no-filter personality and constant energy made her easy to warm up to. 

“Oh, Paige! You’ve met Autumne! This is great. She's one of the new girls in our grade!” Rayna bounced around me. 

I curtsied to her. “It is an honor to meet you, your Highness.”

Rayna frowned. “Aw come on, Autumne’s chill. Did you see the way she raced out there-”

Olivia interrupted and turned to Autume. “Paige is an old friend. In our little group, titles have become… unnecessary. A bit too formal. We understand that is not common, and we-” she glared at Rayna. “-don’t expect anyone to be forced to do so.”

“Oh, no no no.” Autumne waved her hands and smiled. “I think it is great.” She turned to me, “Please just call me Autumne.”

“Yes your high-er- Autumne.” 

“ _Oh please_ don’t tell me you’re already corrupting the new blood?” 

And then there was Mihri. If evil took a form, it was the heir of Setdeset herself. Mihri was beautiful in the exact sense of the word. Her lips were large and oval-shaped, always painted bright red. Her skin was the color of copper, flawless and sparkling. Her almond-shaped ebony black eyes were sharply outlined with charcoal, making her gaze even more soul-eating. Her rich black hair fell perfectly around her sharp face. She stood tall and proudly like she already wore the mantle of Queen, so sure of herself. Mihri of Setdeset wore power like it was her personality. And no one doubted her because of it. 

“Princess Autumne has been here for three hours,” She continued, butting into our circle. “And she’s already had to deal with a dangerous monster reeking havoc on our grounds and witness the utter incompetence of our military. Do you really want to subjugate her to be placed as an equal to a _serf_ on top of everything else?” She crossed her arms and looked down her nose at me. I bowed my head, making sure not to make eye contact. They were all Princesses, I should never make eye contact with them. 

Ivy growled at her. “No one asked you to come in here and be a bitc-”

“-Though I guess your mother stopped caring about good first impressions long ago.” She pivoted her obsidian glare onto Ivy, who returned it with as much voracity. Rayna had to physically hold Ivy back.

Autumne held up her hands shyly, trying to make peace. “Oh, no it's really okay. I don’t mind at all. I think it's wonderful how closely royals get to associate with peasants here.”

“Still, the serf should know her place. Just as we should uphold ours.”

“She’s not your charge, Mihir.” Olivia’s cold voice cut through the group. “Besides, we should all be heading back to the dorms. Afternoon classes are canceled, and it's not safe to be waiting here.”

Mihir backed down. Olivia not only was the mom or our group, but she also acted as the mom for her grade. As top student, a level of respect was held for her from teachers and classmates alike. But she never let it get to her head, and she only stepped in when needed. No one has ever seen her angry, and no one wants to. “Right. See you tomorrow then.” Mihir walked off.

Rayna leaned down to my bowed head. “Hey, you good?” She asked softly. 

I straightened up, but didn’t look any of them in the eye. “Yes. Thank you for your concern. Though I should be heading back to my duties now if none of you require anything of me. Am I excused, your Highness?”

“Paige…” Ivy’s anger dissipated and she looked at me sadly. I met her eyes. _Please, I just want to get out of here. I just want to disappear within the walls of the castle. I just want to be the invisible servant right now._ Ivy nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you later?”

I cursited to them. “Of course your Highness. Excuse me.” I turned from my friends and headed off to do my duties. to just be another 1 in the 200. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i feel like i typed hippogriff waaay to much in this chapter


	5. Ch. 3 - Ivy - I Hate History

I have been told that I have a problem with authority. Though, it's only authority figures who have ever told me that, soooo… I don’t think I actually do. I was practically raised alongside my kingdom’s guard, I was trained to follow authority. But only when the authority is worthy enough to be followed. And being a heritor means that everyone around you is an authority, and not everyone is worthy. 

And my mom… well she was still up to debate. Half the time we were screaming at each other, argument after argument until our voices gave out. And then half the time, we relied on each other's strength like there was no one else in the world. Cause, a lot of the time it felt like that. It was just us now, our tiny family of two. And as much as that was a good thing, it was also so difficult at times. 

“I wish you didn’t bring that,” the Headmaster scowled at me, three guards flanking her. “I hate that you know how to use such a weapon.”

I rolled my eyes and drew my bow. The silver arrow lined up along my steady left arm, elbow turned out. The string brushed my nose. “I don’t.” I turned my stance so that the arrow was aimed towards her and the soldiers. The big mighty men around her flinched. My mother just sighed and shook her head. I cackled and turned my steady aim back to the hay bail. “I can protect myself with it.” The arrow flew from my fingertips, it's shaft warping around the handle before whistling through the evening air and embedding itself up to the fletching in my target. “Besides, Rayna knows how to wield. Lots of _princesses_ do.” 

It was almost dusk now. We were outside the empty training field at the far south side of the grounds. There was a dirt arena for duels with tented wooden bleachers on either side. A horse track circled it, and a couple of targets were set up neatly by the treeline. This place was used for teaching students fencing, proper dueling, riding, and archery. All for sport and show. Mainly the transfers from Gravesell used it, and the soldiers did drills there occasionally. Sometimes the older girl heritors would watch the professional knights warm up, giggling from the stands. I, instead, challenged the guards to an archery competition when I was in first grade. I won. 

My mom stepped towards me and the guards were smart enough to linger back. “Are you upset about what happened today? I can assure you that I’ve already sent a small brigade to hunt down the monster. And I’ve messaged the High King so hopefully he’ll dispatch some more royal guards to Arce.”

“Yeah, cause soldiers made such a big difference,” I grumbled as I plucked another arrow from my quiver and aligned a second shot. “There were what? Thirty knights on one hippogriff. And only one of them actually landed a shot.” I released. Bullseye. 

In my peripheral the three guards fiddled with their light armor sheepishly. 

“And that one strike told us that the monster can be killed. Ivy, I understand that you hate feeling so-” she took a breath. “Defenseless.”

I set my jaw. “I’m not defenseless.” I released a third shot. It flew off course, skimming the edge of the bale. 

_Didn’t adjust for the wind. Rookie mistake, Rookie._

“Of course you’re not. I know you’re not. It’s almost dark, and you have class tomorrow, Missy. You need to wash up and get some sleep.”

I blew air out of my nose and dropped my stance. I turned to my mother. Her silver eyes reflected the indigo sky. I wish I got her eyes.

*****

It was tuesday and we were officially having the first day of classes. Yesterday all of the morning classes were cancelled since students were just arriving and needed time to settle in. Then hippogriff happened, and all of the afternoon classes were canceled. 

So here I was—after having woken up at seven for the first time in three months, eating a breakfast my morning stomach and nerves did not want me to keep down, and lugging a textbook so thick I could kill a man with it—going to history. Yay education system. 

The moment I opened the door to the classroom, I was met with chaos. Rayna and Hutch were sword fighting with two wooden yardsticks, jumping up on the desks and chairs to dodge attacks. They were really going at it, the clacking of the wood echoing off the walls.

“Guys, it's way too early for this,” I deadpanned, and made my way over to Olivia. She was sitting next to a girl I didn’t recognize. Ah, so one of the new students then. The young girl was mousy in appearance with massive brown eyes and very curly walnut-colored hair that bounced around her round face in a bob. All of her darker skin was completely covered with freckles, like someone had flicked a wet paintbrush at her. She looked at me shyly, like she would scurry away any second. 

I dumped myself into the seat next to them and propped up my feet on the desk. I was wearing trousers under my skirt, it was fine. “I’m Ivy. Of Synth.” I offered her my hand which she daintily accepted. “Welcome to Arse.”

“Esperanza Paola Citlalic of Mañana. But, um everyone calls me Espie. It's nice to meet you,” she returned in my timid voice. 

“Mañana? That’s far. Are you transferring from Regenwood?”

Regenwood was the second heritor academy. It was much smaller and newer than Arce and was farther east. From what I heard about it, the school barely had any actual royals, just a bunch of rich brats whose parents paid for them to go to school. Well, we were also a bunch of rich brats whose parents paid for us to go to school, but we all had actual jobs and responsibilities to take up after graduation. Those rich kids would just end up in their mansions, throwing parties and gossiping about nothing. 

Espie just quietly shook her head. Olivia graciously stepped in. “Espie was actually home schooled. She even skipped a grade.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Wow, good for you. You’re getting out of her a year earlier.” Espie gave me a small smile at that. 

Just then, Rayna struck Hutch’s sword so hard that it was flung from his hand and smacked into the blackboard. Olivia shot them a look. “Do not break those.”

Rayna shrugged. “I mean, we can just pay for replacements right?”

Olivia frowned. “That is not the point.”

Hutch did an exaggerated bow. “Alas, warrior Rayna, you have righteously defeated me. I accept my loss with pride and grace.” Rayna poked him in the stomach with the end of her yard stick. “NO! You wound me so! Such disgrace! Such dishonor! Shame upon you and your descendants! Ahhh the agony!” Hutch clutched his stomach and crumpled to the floor. Rayna laughed and stuck her tongue out at him before bounding over to us. 

Kyomi called over from the small group where she was sitting. “Oh poor Hutchinson, such brave and loyal knight was he. We will remember him well.” Hutch blew her a kiss from the floor and she giggled. I gagged. 

Just then, Autumne came through the door, holding a little map of the school in her hand and looking around before her eyes caught our group and she happily made her way over. 

“ _Please_ tell me this is Debrot’s History class?” 

“Yup, and our personal hell for the next two hours.” I leaned back in my chair so the front feet lifted off the ground.

Autumne sighed a breath of relief. “Oh thank goodness. For the first part. Not the hell part…” 

Hutch finally got up from the floor and sauntered over to us. “Oh come on guys, don’t leave me out.” He bowed to Autumne and lightly kissed the back of her hand, causing her to blush. “And who might you be?”

“Autumne.”

“Hutch.”

Autumne tilted her head to the side. “Hutch?”

“Lover Boy here doesn’t go by his first name,” I interrupted. “His family name is Hutchinson.” 

Hutch just grinned and leaned on the back of my chair. “And it's lovely to see you again, _Ivandria_.”

I dropped my chair back onto all four of his legs, causing him to stumble. “Likewise. And don’t call me that.”

“You’re just grumpy that I know your full name and you don’t know mine.”

“At least I wasn’t named after a hobo house.”

“Excuse you, I come from a very long line of hobo houses.” He turned his attention back to Autumne. “You have a beautiful accent by the way.”

“Oh, _merci beaucoup_. My kingdom is Villeurvanne. You all sound funny to me, but I do not know where to place your accents.”

“I’m from Synth. Like Ivy.” Hutch took the empty seat next to me and bumped my shoulder. “My dad rules the southern Duchy of Ocriles.”

Hutch was a gangly boy with thick glasses and the cocky grin that made me always want to punch him. He was a year older since, like Rayna, he was held back after his transfer from the Knights Academy. But unlike Rayna, he looked like he could barely lift an actual sword. He had swishy blond hair and mischievous blue eyes behind his frames. A very faint white scar made a horizontal mark above his one eyebrow. 

Autumne’s eyes flickered between the two of us. “So you two must be old friends then.”

Hutch threw his arm around my shoulder while I glared straight ahead. “The Best of Buds! / No.” We said at the same time. 

Rayna snorted and Olivia did her best to hide her laughter. 

As Hutch continued to flirt, my gaze wandered over to the other group of students. Our grade was small in comparison to actual schools, but large in comparison to Arce. Last year there had been just six of us. 

Hutch tended to hang around me, Olivia, and Rayna while Mihir and Kyomi stuck together. 

Now they were a strange pairing. When heritors make friends at school, there is usually an unconscious connection. Neighboring kingdoms that had strong trade and alliances with each other tended to have children around the same age. It was old remnants from the days of marriage deals. These kids would then grow up visiting the courts of each other's kingdoms. That's what happened with me, Olivia, and Rayna. Synth, Ridire Ceo, and Nifheilm all are connected through the Runia River Basin. We all had met each other at least once before Arce. But Sedeset and Hinode didn’t border each other. If anything, they were rivals in silk, paper, and pottery trade. But the two girls were best friends. And no one could tell you why.

For Mihir’s cold and sharp personality, Kyomi was all warm and bubbly. She had monolid violet eyes and black hair cut short like a boys. Not as short as my mom’s though. It was long enough that she could tie up her bangs into a teeny ponytail at the top of her forehead, which she had worn to class on occasion. Everyone loved Kyomi. And not in a she-was-the-most-popular-girl-in-school kind of way, but more of a if-you-hated-her-you-were-basically-a-puppy-kicker kind of way. A bit oblivious at times, but always really sweet. She tended to jump between our group and Mihir, being a sort of bridge between the two. I felt bad that she had to do so at times, but as far as I had seen, Mihir was never mean to her. But she would rip into anyone who tried to. 

Mihir was picking at her long red painted nails while Kyomi sat criss-cross on top of a desk next to her, like usual. But there was another person with them. A boy. Black, with close cropped hair and his right arm in a sling. 

“Who’s the guy over there?”

“Oh um,” Hutch scrapped the back of his neck and leaned down to us, half whispering. “That's Niven. Prince of Thrisk. He was at Gravesell for a couple years. He wasn’t rude or anything, he just mainly kept to himself. Scary good with a blade though, undefeated.” 

Rayna piped up, a lot less quieter than Hutch. “Oh I remember him! Everyone thought he was kind of snooty. I think the only time he talked to me was to correct my stance before a duel.” 

I looked at Niven, smiling opening and actually laughing with Kyomi and Mihir. He looked really normal. 

“Oh and apparently he and Mihir are engaged.”

“ _What?!_ ”

Hutch just shrugged. 

Rayna made a noise in the back of her throat. “Ew, do people even still do that?”

Olivia mumbled under her breath, “You’d be surprised.”

“Well, basically engaged,” Hutch corrected. “Apparently they spent the entire summer together. And since their kingdoms are neighbors…”

“The ultimate power couple,” I crossed my arms. We really don’t need another Mihir. 

“I’m just glad I’m not the only boy anymore.”

Then Professor Debrot walked in. I had heard a lot about the teacher, and none of the stories were good. We all dashed into our seats as Debrot started marching up and down the aisles of desks, unlit cigar in mouth, and a stiff walking cane in hand, being knocked into the legs of chairs. Our history teacher was an old general that worked on the Rofhast Wall, which separated Irisia from the Outlands. It was meant to keep all of the magic and macveins out, and to keep us munveins safe. When Debrot served years ago, it was almost a constant battle ground. And now the General was teaching ninth grade. 

"I am your History Professor," the stout teacher said in a distasteful voice. "This class will be the only important class you will ever take at this school. So I expect you to try to learn something while I am up here wasting my time on you children." 

Derbot frowned at us who all stiffened in our chairs. The fat teacher leaned heavily on the metal cane and chewed on the end of the cigar. "For some reason the Headmaster believes that the students of this school should receive a well rounded education in ridiculous subjects such as music and science.

"In my class you will learn the only information you will ever need in your life. Because you students will not grow up to be scientists or musicians or writers. You all already have your assigned destinies. You children are the future of this land, you will be responsible for millions of lives. And because of that–"

Debrot started walking down the row of desk, just barely squeezing past so that we had to lean away when the professor marched by. "–I will address you all by your full titles. In fact, when you are in my classroom you shall all address each other by the correct titles." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mihri smirk from her seat at this news. "You will call me whatever you wish of the following: Professor Debrot, Professor, General, General Debrot, or just Sir." 

Technically the General had her title stripped from her after her discharge from Rofhast. But she was considered a military genius and the High King believed that knowledge shouldn’t go to waste and would be much more useful torturing children with it.

By the way, Professor Debrot was a woman. A sour, rotten, tobacco breath woman.

“Now, there are nine of you. Six heir—excuse me—seven crown heirs-” Autumne shrunk down in her seat. “-One second heir princess. And one… dukent.”

Hutch pumped his fist in the air and whooped.

Debrot immediately rounded on him and whipped her metal cane into the top of his desk, barely missing his hand. We all jumped back in our seats. All of the color drained from Hutch’s face. 

“NEVER interrupt me.”

“Sorry ma’am. Er—sir. General. Sorry,” Hutch stuttered.

Debrot just turned and took her place behind a podium at the front of the room, not even acknowledging Hutch. “Please keep in mind that while all of you were born into power, you have not received it yet. None of you are even of age. You're all just children who have not even tasted the real world. But I will not tolerate any of you acting so _immature_. These four walls are the border of my kingdom. And here, I am the highest power. And you all better remember that. For without me and without my class, you will know nothing. 

“When your people face famine, you will not know how Count Exern distributed food during the Great Goldben Starvation. When your people face war, you will not know how Lexat the Undefeatable earned his name. And when your people scream treason, you will not know King Michen’s Statute of Execution. You will quote a book, identify a tree, and solve an equation. And your people will _eat you alive_ , without me.”

“Do you even hear yourself right now?”

Debrot turned her beady eyes onto me. She picked up a list on her desk, scanning it before spitting out, “I thought I made myself very clear on interruptions, Heir Princess Ivandria of Synth.”

I set my jaw, “Well I’m sorry if I actually want to learn this _so important_ history instead of listening to you spout out some dictator bullshit.”

Debrot turned beat red and huffed up to my desk, metal cane ready. I stood up from my chair, sending it crashing behind me, but I matched her height. I did not back away from the charging bull, I stared it down. “So now you’re going to bring back corporal punishment, General?”

Debrot smashed her cane into the desk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olivia signing at me to stop. “Unfortunately for you, the Queen of Synth did not appoint me. Her superior did. If she had managed to retain her kingdom’s position in the Chamber, maybe she would have some influence. But she didn’t. And that's history. And now, you get to live with the consequences.” My hands curled into fists. “Do not think that just because you are the Headmaster’s daughter that you can do whatever you want.” A little bit of spittle dripped down her chin.

My voice was steady and cold. “And do not think that just because you're an adult that I have to listen to you threaten and insult us. Someday we’ll all be on thrones, and you’ll still be stuck in this room, getting your kicks from putting down fourteen year olds.”

Debrot looked like she was going to murder me. “Get out of my classroom,” she growled.

I picked up my textbook and headed towards the door. “Wow I get to skip out on this? What a punishment.”

“And go to the Headmaster’s office.”

 _Shit_. 

*****

“It's 8:15. I had hoped you would last the day.”

“Well it's not my fault she’s my first period.”

My mom breathed through her nose, head in her hands. Her crown was discarded off to the side. She always looked so weird in her office. Her leather chair was too big, overshadowing her from behind. Her desk was too wide, putting an ocean of mahogany between us, littered with ink stains and islands of paperwork. Two massive portraits hung over either shoulder, silently judging me with their emotionless faces. One was of my mother, painted when she first took up the position. She somehow looked older in it. The other was of the founder. Some old grandpa guy with a white beard and uncountable wrinkles. I could never remember his name. Her throne room back home suited her much better. There she looked like a Queen, mighty but accessible. Here, she looked caged. “I can’t fire her. And you know that. The High King-”

“The High King can go eat shit.”

“ _Ivy._ ” Her voice was hard. She was angry. I ducked my head down. “Look. What I can do is place a knight in her room for all of the classes. If things get too heated again, I’ll order him to step in and report back to me.”

“You're giving a middle aged woman a chaperone?”

“Yes. Would you like one too?” 

I dodged her eyes. “No ma’am.” 

My mom leaned back and rubbed her temple. “I’ve been looking into replacements and sending their resumes to His Royalty, but I haven’t gotten any response. Sometimes I swear half of my messages don’t even reach his desk.”

I twiddled with my thumbs. “Sooooo, am I actually in trouble?”

She quirked up the side of her lip. “Well you did cuss in class.”

“I cuss all the time!”

She raised an eyebrow at me, “You think you're helping your case right now?”

I shrinked back into my seat. 

“Professor Debrot wants you to write a five page apology essay and then have you read it before class tomorrow.”

My head shot up. “What? That’s so unfair-”

“That's why I am not having you do it. But you are going to be tolerant to her.”

“But she teaches history for ninth through twelve graders. You expect me to be tolerant until graduation?”

“Yes. It’ll be good practice.” She leaned forward, trying to close some of the distance across the desk. “When you are on the throne, there are going to be a lot of people just like her. And if you try to argue with every single one, you’ll spend your reign in useless conflict.”

“Choose my battles?”

“Choose your battles,” she nodded. 

A tightness filled my chest. I turned away from her, instead glaring at the corner of her portrait’s frame. “I just feel like if I don’t stand up now, I never will.”

The Headmaster tapped her desk lightly, drawing my attention back to her. She smiled at me. “You will. You always do.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall I love writing for Hutch and Queen Rose


	6. Ch. 4 - Paige - Inbetweenness

I brushed out Ivy’s hair as she sat at her desk, scratching out her essay which should have been done about a week ago. Rayna was splayed out on Ivy’s bed, throwing a leather ball up at the canopy and catching it as it fell back down. 

“The Peasant's Revolt initiated the creation of the High King, the Great Banishment, and… and what else?” Ivy chewed on the end of her quill, getting ink on her chin.

“I put down the Rohast Wall,” Rayna offered as she continued to toss the ball. 

“Yeah, but I can’t copy off you completely. Besides, the Banishment and Rohast are too similar. I need a good third point.” I set down the brush and started going through her dresser to pull out her nightgown. It was mid September now, the nights came sooner and cooler. Everything was fitting back into the normal rhythm. “The, the the the-” Ivy waved her hand around. “-the Chamber?”

“Nope. That existed before.”

“Ugh. I wish Olivia wasn’t so busy. Why does that girl have to finish her homework like the day it's assigned?”

I snorted. “What a mad man.” I picked up some of the books that were littered in piles across the floor. “Ives, you gotta pick these up. I’m gonna break my neck.”

Ivy turned and grinned wickedly at me. “Aww, but that's why I’ve got such a great serv-” I glared at her. “- _super_ _friend_. Who I love so much. I’ll pick them up tonight.” I rolled my eyes at her but smiled. 

I smoothed out her pajamas on her bed next to Rayna and walked over to her barely started essay. “Maybe I can help? Lets see, the position of High King was made an elected for commoners, Endel was made the official capitol, the book burnings stopped, serfdom was abolished and indenchurment was established, umm… and People’s Day was made a holiday?” I listed off the points I was taught in summer school. 

“Serfdom works! Thanks Paige!” Ivy started scribbling down the rest of her intro.

“Why do you guys call it a Revolt?” I asked nonchalantly. “I’ve always heard it called the People’s Rebellion. We were fighting for rights, not to overthrow the monarchies.”

Rayna scoffed. “Tell that to the hundreds of murdered royals.”

I crossed my arms. “Tell that to the thousands of dead civilians.” 

Rayna hesitated and the ball hit the comforter next to her head. “Right, sorry.” She flipped over to her stomach and looked me in the face. “Look it happened like hundreds of years ago. Truce?” She held out her hand. 

I sighed and walked over to her. “Truce.” I reached for her hand but before I realized my mistake, Rayna had grabbed my wrist and with her other hand poked me in my armpit. I shrieked in laughter and jumped back. “Oh ho ho, this is _war_.” I grabbed a pillow and whapped it straight into Rayna’s face. She screamed and fell backwards off the bed. Her head popped up from the other side and she furiously signed “turtle” at me. 

“Guys, my essay is due tomorrow, so can you knock it-” a pillow smacked Ivy in the face, stopping her mid sentence. She just blinked and looked between the two of us. Rayna and I pointed at each other. “Both of you _leave_ before I grab my bow.” 

I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay okay! Do you need anything else tonight?”

Ivy shrugged. “I’m good. Oh! But tomorrow the tournament, so no classes. You don’t need to wake me up till like-”

“Eleven. I know.” I picked up my satchel and headed for the door. “Break a leg tomorrow, Ray!”

Rayna winked at me, “Hopefully not my own!”

I snorted out a laugh before closing the door behind myself and walking down the stairs. The Girls Dorms were beautiful. Dark polished wood glinted in the candle light. Ghosts of evening conversations drifted from behind the bedroom doors. It was late enough that the rest of the handmaidens had finished their nightly duties and returned to the Servants Quarters. I felt a little alone in those hallways filled with half whispers. 

A few of the older girls, around 12th year, were leaning on a thick windowsill at the end of the corridor, window propped open so the cool air mixed with the warm interior. They passed a small glass of cherry wine between themselves, taking turns sipping from it. I just ducked my head in a short bow as I walked by. They nodded in return, slightly raising the bottle to me. I looked at them, slightly surprised by their offer, before silently shaking my head no. The students shrugged before returning to their hushed conversation. So, maybe not completely alone. 

It was just when I turned down the stairs that I bumped into Mihir. Immediately I bowed to her, “My apologies, your Highness.” I stumbled out of her way and started again down the stairs to the door. I could feel her eyes studying me. But before I could make it down another step, a loud _THUMP_ echoed throughout the staircase. I whipped my head around to the noise, seeing Mihir, hand outstretched, and a book on the floor at her feet.

“You startled me.” There was something wicked in the back of her voice. “Pick it up.” 

I ducked my head and carefully bent down to the book. Just when my fingers wrapped around its cover, Mihir’s foot stepped on it, trapping the book and me to the floor. 

“Look at you,” She hissed. “So fast to slip back into place when you know someone is finally going to hold you accountable. Like a little _snake_ , dancing between the cracks.” She bent down, foot still in place, but now our eyes met as I craned my neck to look up at her. “It's getting kinda sad at this point, the way you act all friendly to them, like you’re one of them. One of us? If they were going to give you a position in court, they would have done so already. I mean, they do have the power. _Ohhh_ ,” she made a pouty face. “Or did you actually think you were _best friends_? Ha! 

“When they graduate, they are going to move hundreds of miles away and become queens. You’ll be like a nanny they can reminisce on when times get tough. But you’ll be here, serving the next generation of royals. Except, you won’t be able to grow up with them.” She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t need to. It echoed around the stairwell, surrounding me on all sides. “You won’t become their friends. They’ll see you as what you are: a poor orphan servant girl, desperately trying to be something more.” 

Mihir released her foot and straightened up. Slowly, I took the book from the floor and offered it to her, my eyes cast down to my shoes. Mihir gingerly took the book from my hands and tucked it back under her arm. She looked me down, so cool and collected, like a queen. 

“My advice? Fit yourself into your place now, while you’ll still be able to fit in anywhere.” The Princess of Sedest turned and walked up the stairs, leaving her words to hang in the silence. I took a shaky breath, alone on the steps. My throat clenched. The whispers sounded too loud, too directed at me. I hurried the rest of the way out the door, not stopping until I hit the September night and the heavy brass knob was locked behind me. 

_Take a breath, Paige. You’re fine. Ignore it._

I took in the cool air and my throat opened up again, allowing myself to breath. I squeezed my emerald necklace in the palm of my hand. The darkness helped me hide my emotions. 

I unhooked a lantern from the stone wall and lit the candle with my flint-sparker before heading out across the grounds. I took the stone path around the side of the Main Hall. Arce Academy was beautiful at night, like a sleeping mountain. The actual Academy building was more stout and spread out than the teetering-tall palaces that its students grew up in. Its cobblestone walls were halfway covered in ivy and moss. Birds made nests tucked away in the overhang of the slanted roof. But the ancient building still held some regality. Its windows were high and arched, like bishops lined up in rows. Sturdy towers rounded the corners, giving the castle enough height so it could be seen above the surrounding wall. 

The moonlight turned the stones a soft blue, with orange dots of life floating where a person was. Torches carried by soldiers along the top of the turrets. A teacher’s oil lamp, illuminating their desk for late night work. The hearth at the Servant’s Quarters, shaping its windows into a warm smile. My lantern, jostling around in my hand as I walked back home. 

I don’t know what Arce was before it was turned into a school. I know it was renovated a lot, most of the wooden supports were rotting away and the roof had caved in. And, of course, the dorms had to be built. But Arce still looked weathered, no amount of polishing was ever going to get the scars off its face. But it also looked strong. It was a castle after all. Castles aren’t built for show, they’re built for protection. 

The Servants Quarters was quiet when I entered. Only a few older households were chatting comfortably in the sitting room off to the side. A large pot was set up on the stove, a small fire below it keeping it warm. With the subtle chill pressing through the glass windows and the warmth from the kitchen feeling comforting, not sticky hot like in the summer, you could just tell fall was lingering a couple days away.

I lugged off my bag and pulled a small glazed bowl from the cabinet. I dished out some of the last of the stew from the bottom of the pot and sat down alone at the dining table bench. Soft murmurs from the sitting room carried into the kitchen, but I was too tired to try and focus on the conversation. Instead I just slurped my potato and beef broth as all of my walking today finally seeped into my bones. 

“Hey.” A whispered voice came from behind me. 

I halfway turned to see Thomas walking down the stairs. “Hey.” He poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher before taking the seat across from me. “Have you heard from Carter?”

He shook his head, causing his orange hair to get in his eyes. “He’s still got a couple days before he’s due back. I’m sure he’s fine, Paige.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” I turned back to my soup which was getting colder by the second. 

“Did her royal highness work you to the bone today?” Thomas quirked up his lip.

“No, come on, you know she’s not like that.”

He rolled his eyes. “They all are Paige, you’re just not letting yourself see it.”

“Thom.” My voice cut through. “I don’t want to argue right now. I’m too tired.”

“Kay’ didn’t mean to.” He stood up from the table and started back upstairs. “I hope you’re not too tired though. The little ones stayed up for you. They said you’re gonna help them with their reading?”

“Right, I did.” I pushed myself up from the bench and cleaned my empty bowl in the sink. “Can you tell them I’ll be there in a second? I just gotta wash up real quick.”

Thomas nodded before disappearing up the stairs. I stretched out my back, hearing it crack in a couple places. 

“Alright,” I told myself. “Here we go.”

+++++

“... and the brave knight raised his sword. He v-van-van…” Kio poked me in the arm and my dosing head shot up again. “Paige? How do you say-” he pointed at the word. 

I squinted at the line of text. “Van-vanqu-” I rubbed my eyes and tried again. “ _Arveles,_ why is this in a kids book,” I mumbled to myself. “Van-qu-ish-ed. Vanquished. It means to kill. To slay.” 

“Ohhhhh. Va-squished the dragon,” Kio continued. Kio sat in between my legs on the bottom bed of one of the two bunks in the kids’ room. I had the book propped up in front of us as he read along. Ellie was tucked under my left arm, and Nissa was dangling over the side of the upper bunk, currently turning red in the face. Markel was laid out on the wooden floor, practicing writing his name with a charcoal stick and the blank backs of grocery lists. 

Ellie and Kio were both six. Ellie was a page and Kio was a postilion. Markel was seven and worked in the stables. Nissa was the oldest at nine. She was a scullery maid. All of them were orphans. 

It was somewhat common—or I guess the better word is easy—for Arce to hire orphans. It keeps them off the streets and puts a little coin in their pockets before summertime when they’re sent back to the orphanages. Pennbrooke was a wealthy enough town that families weren’t going to send off their kids to work that young, so whenever a job called for a quick, small, and quiet action, a little orphan kid worked great. 

Arce’s honestly a blessing to these children. Shelter, food, a family that’ll look out for you. But I’d always felt a little obligated to do more. I knew what it was like, and I had someone looking out for me back then. So I was going to be that someone for these kids. I was going to make sure they can read and write. 

“The knight gave the princess the magic sword and they lived happily ever after. THE END!” Kio flung his arms up in the air and smacked me in the face. 

“ _Alllright_ , and so that means bedtime for you little munchkins.” I pushed myself off the bed and took the candle from the nightstand. 

“Awwww noooo.” Nissa flipped right side up and her face started turning a normal color again. “I’m not even tired.”

I let out a long yawn and Nissa subconsciously mimicked me. “Oh, I think you are,” I chuckled as I pulled the covers over her. 

She pouted, “No fair.”

Markel and Kio both got themselves tucked in and I leaned down to help Ellie. “Paige?” She asked me quietly. Ellie was so soft spoken, I almost missed it. “What if… what if the monsters come back?”

I crouched down next to her side. “They aren’t coming back. The brave knights went out to go slay them, just like the story.”

She leaned in and whispered to me, like it was a secret the other kids shouldn’t hear, “But that’s _just_ a story. And they don’t have a magic sword.”

“That’s a good point.” I sat down on the floor next to her bed and turned to the whole group. “Have you all heard of the Guardians?”

“They’re just a fairytale!” Markel piped up from where he had buried himself in his blankets. 

“Well, I don’t think they are,” I called up to the lump of covers. His head popped out from under them, curiously. “I in fact know that they’re real.”

Markel frowned at me. “How?”

“Cause I’m an adult, and I know these things.” That got Ellie to giggle next to me. “So. The Guardians were people gifted with incredible magic. Magic more powerful than any Elf’s or witch’s. _Pure_ magic. And they used it to protect all of the peasants of all of the kingdoms. They slayed dragons the size of mountains. They broke curses from the most wicked macviens. They found treasure troves big enough to fill fleets of ships.” Ellie’s eyes widened in delight. 

“But what made them truly special,” I continued. “Was that they were once people just like us. They were munveins. Lets see if you guys can name them all.” I held up my fingers to start counting. “There was the Mason. The Sage.”

“The Traveler!” Nissa added. “And the Falconer. And the Crofter. That’s a farmer.” She sounded very proud of herself. 

“That’s right. But I think we’re still missing a couple…”

“The ARSONIST!” Kio shouted.

“The _Hearthkeeper_ ,” I corrected. 

“Arsonist is cooler,” he mumbled to himself. 

I rolled my eyes but gave in. “Alright, so the arsonist.” Kio gave a big toothy grin. “The Gilder. The Mariner. And the Watchman.”

“There’s so many of them,” Ellie whispered to me in wonder.

“Well, protecting all of Irisia is a pretty big job. And it's said that when Irisia needs them most, they’ll return. And they’ll protect you from all of the monsters.”

Markel pulled his blankets up to his nose. “But what if they don’t come back?” He mumbled. 

I stood up from the floor and kissed the top of his head. “Then I’ll protect you.” 

+++++

Finally, I reached my own room again. It was hidden away at the end of a second hall on the third floor. The room was originally a storage closet that held the stairs up to the attic. Madam Grey, the woman who raised me and the last Housekeeper, had turned it into her own private study. When I started staying on campus during the summer, she gave it over to me. 

The room itself was small, but more cosy than cramped. A window on the far wall would let in the afternoon sunlight, but the great oak’s branches covered it enough to still give me privacy. Currently, Philbert was asleep on the outside sill. I had my bed pushed in the corner under the landing of the suspended staircase. The stairs were fitted against two of the walls, held up by the railings which connected up to the ceiling, instead of down to the floor, so I could walk underneath. A squat chest that held all of my clothes sat at the foot of my bed. But it was always half empty since my wardrobe mainly consisted of my uniform. Madam Grey’s old writing desk was still pushed under the window. I had an old literature textbook open on it. One of the ones that the school was going to throw out cause its bindings fell apart. The only other furniture was the tiny wobbly stool I sat at the desk with. 

But what my room lacked in furnishings, I made up for in decorations. Schedules, calendars, and to do lists for work were pinned up on all four walls. Among them I had scattered poems from Whitney, letters from Carter, and small drawings I had sketched: the front gate, the chicken coop, the skyline of Pennbrooke from the North turret. From the overhanging staircase, I had strung tiny bushels of dried lavender and wildflowers, feathers on string, and a mobile of paper birds. A couple years ago, Stan helped me put up a shelf so I could have a little spot for all of the broken trinkets and colorful stones I had collected as a kid. 

My room was definitely lived in. Definitely a little bit of a mess. 

I sat down at the desk and used the darken glass as a mirror while I brushed out my hair. I had always been boy-ish in my appearance. I had a square face and big bushy eyebrows and a voice much lower than any of the other girls. My hair was a dark muddy brown and thick like a horse’s mane. My feet were big and flat so that I had to take Carter’s handy-down shoes and not Whitney’s. The older servants would tease me about it when I was just starting. How I was such a little “Page Boy.” That made me begin to grow out my hair, so it’d be long like all of the princess’. Madam Grey always admonished me for that, calling it one of my little vanities. But she also taught me the benefits of how I was made. My big feet made me quieter in the hallways. My lower voice made me clearer in responding to orders. My more boy-ish looks kept me from drawing unwanted attention. When you’re a young girl surrounded by older boys who have much more power and wealth than you, the less heads you turn the better. 

The one fault in my appearance was my eyes. They were green. A bright emerald green. Rare and strange. 

“ _Stay in the shadows. Don’t look them in the eyes_ . ” Madam Grey would tell me. “ _And they will pass you by without any difficulty_.”

I looked at my reflection in the glass. I looked her in the eyes. 

_A poor orphan servant girl, desperately trying to be something more._

“Stop it,” I hissed to myself. “Its stupid. It doesn’t matter.”

It was almost 10 and I had been working all day, but the exhaustion had left me. Or, at least, it was clouded. I found myself restless, in my silent tiny room, shut away from the rest of the world. Just my reflection staring back at me. 

I picked up my fiddle that was leaning against the leg of my desk and climbed the stairs up into the attic, pushing open the heavy trap door and letting the faint rain of dust fall down onto me. I wouldn’t disturb anyone from up here. The attic was still and silent. Just vague silhouettes of unneeded chairs and forgotten knick-knacks. I set my candle down on a crate that we use to store the solstice’s decorations in and closed the trap door behind me. 

Madam Grey had insisted I learn how to play the violin, though the only one she could afford was technically a fiddle. She said it didn’t matter, as long as I played the correct music. A girl of my background should have something to offer. But normal peasants don’t know how to play such an instrument. Heritors do. I guess Madam Grey had been around royals for so long that the lines even blurred a bit for her. 

I rubbed my thumb across its worn face. The once bright chestnut brown finish had faded in spots to a ruddy black from dirt and dust. 

“Maybe you’re the reason why I don’t fit either part,” I mused.

The instrument was lifted to my chin. My left hand curled around its neck, fingers finding their places on the strings. My right hand guided the bow down to its mark, ready to flutter across the threads. 

In that dusty attic, with just my flickering candle as my audience, I played. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> such angst
> 
> sorry this chapters kinda a mess, I honeslty ad libbed most of it cause i needed a transitional chapter. Anywho, next chapt will have fighting so yay!


	7. Ch. 5 - Rayna - Tournament Time!

So a wallet is made up of a bunch of pockets. It itself is a pocket. And you put your wallet in your pocket. A pocket in a pocket. But. Are pants then pockets for your legs? Pockets with pockets? But they have holes, so bottomless pockets? Wait—“Are socks just pockets for your feet?”

Hutch stared at me blankly. “...what?”

“Nifheilm! Hutchinson! Pay attention,” Ser Hok’ee ordered and we both snapped back to him. Ser Hok’ee was the knighted Sergeant Major of the guards at Arce. He also for some reason agreed to be the school’s coach. I don’t think he’s regretted it, but then again he lost one of his toes during a freak ax-cident. (Ha, pun). He made us all swear that it was an old war wound, and not from a middle schooler with poor grip strength. “I want each of you to give these Gravesell esquires a run for their money. Some day, they might be your guards. Let’s make sure they can do a good job.” 

All of us heritors gave a big cheer at that.

“Now, archers are going first. Followed by duelers. And we’ll close off with the riders. Then the Headmaster will announce which school scored the highest overall.” He flipped through the schedule that was handed to him earlier. “Yada yada yada. Cannons. Victory lap. Buffett. Ya know the drill.” He crumpled up the schedule and tossed it over his shoulder. “I say you all just get out there, kick some ass—” (Oh there were first graders here, he was definitely not allowed to say that.)“—and stuff your faces full of victory bacon.” 

“YEAAAAAHHH!”

“Um, actually I’m a vegetarian-”

“For ARCE!” 

I pumped my first up in the air, “LETS GO SAPLINGS!” 

I watched some of the light die in Ser Hok’ee’s eyes as we all started chanting, “SAP-LINGS! SAP-LINGS!” 

After a good few minutes of screaming our lungs out and completely embarrassing Ser Coach, the first round of archers got out onto the field and started the tournament. It was just the first through fourth graders so it was very adorable and very ineffective. (And very dangerous with all the arrows that went off course. So maybe, actually effective in a fight?)

Hutch and I watched from the equipment house where all of the other competitors were waiting. Gravesell esquires were mixed in with us and taking up most of the space. The Knight’s Academy had nearly three hundred students. There were about twenty Arce kids who wielded. So to even it out a bit, only volunteers from Gravesell were here to compete while it was mandatory for the rest of us. Archery and horseback riding was also added so a few more heritors could participate. Cause you know not every parent wants their darling child to learn how to defend themselves with a wooden stick. But riding a thousand pound animal as it jumps a five foot bar? Yeah, sounds safe. 

Hutch readjusted the tension on his crossbow for a third time as we waited. I squinted at the audience in the bleachers across the field, trying to figure out where my friends were. 

“I can’t believe they actually allow you to compete with that,” my annoying little brother came up beside us, pointing the end of his spear at Hutch’s crossbow. 

“I can’t believe they allow you to show your ugly face here,” I countered without even looking at him. 

“I can’t believe they’d allow someone so stupid to have an actual sword,” Brynjar retorted, causing me to stick my tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue out at me.

“Ooookay, guys we are not fighting each other,” Hutch stepped in and held his hands between us. 

“Why do you use a crossbow though?” I blurted out before thinking. I remembered a long time ago when we had our first tournament at Graves. Hutch wielded a sword, and he was pretty good at it. He won his first duel against an esquire much older than him. But I think his parents or the coaches pulled him from dueling after it. He’d been with archery ever since. 

Hutch seemed to grimace a little at that but my brother didn’t notice. Bryn just commented, “Yeah, at least use a longbow or something. So you can show actual skill. Not just pulling a trigger.” 

“But Geoff’s a family heirloom.” Hutch patted the side of his crossbow. 

“Geoff?”

“Short for Geoffrey. As for skill,” Hutch gave his classic smirk and tapped his forearm quiver where he kept his short bolts. “You’ll just have to see.” 

Right on cue, the crowd erupted into applause and the little kids finished their final round and started heading back to the equipment house. (Dangerous little infants.) Hutch waved goodbye to use and ran out into the center of the field where the other older archers were setting up. 

Bryn took up leaning on the beam where Hutch had been and repeatedly started to poke my foot with the handle of his spear until I kicked him in the shins. 

“Hey do you think socks are pockets for our feet?”

“Obviously.”

“Okay. Good.”

I was three years older than Brynjar. He’d just transferred from Graves this year. We looked basically the same. He was really annoying. I like to say he’s the reason our parents don’t have any more kids. But then he always says I’m the reason they had to try for another. 

The arena slowly quieted after the Headmaster announced the category and the archers took up their places. 

“DON’T MESS UP!” I shouted across the still field. All of the contestants turned and glared at me, though Hutch seemed to know this was coming and looked more embarrassed than annoyed. I flashed them all a big toothy smile. At least Bryn was getting a kick out of it since he was bent over laughing next to me. 

The archers had ten shots. Each of them were graded on speed and accuracy. It was a mix of all different types of bow-bows. (I honestly don’t know what they’re called. Just like, the normal bows.) Hutch was the only one with a crossbow. 

He pushed his glasses farther up his nose and squinted at the target. The kid was practically blind, I don’t know who thought to put him in archery. 

They all pulled a long arrow from their quivers and lined up their first shot, turning their bodies to the side and creating that beautiful arc with their arms and the wooden limb. I had seen Ivy take up that same stance a hundred times before. It was elegant. Very royal. Hutch remained facing forward, shoulders hunched as he lined up his eye with the slight point. His left hand plucked a bolt from his right forearm and loaded it into the channel before it came to rest under the front of the weapon, holding it level. 

“BEGIN!”

Fifteen arrows struck the targets at once. A satisfying _snthunk_ echoed across the field from the impacts. Then the process of reloading started. But before anyone else had even aimed their next arrow, Hutch had already sent two more bolts into his hay bail. He was like a Synthian machine. The moment his bolt was released, he already started reloading. He had a special glove on his left hand that had some sort of hook in the center palm. With one quick slide of the hand he latched it onto the thick string and pulled it back to its latch. Then he nimbly plucked another bolt from his right arm, slid it into the groove down the weapon’s shaft, lined up his shot, and pulled the trigger again. Crossbows were powerful weapons, but messy in their aim. Hutch made up for that quality with the sheer quantity of how many bolts he could get out in the same amount of time. In under a minute, he had fired all ten shots. 

Hutch smiled cockily and dropped his stance, sending a wink to the esquire next to him who was watching in awe. He rolled out his shoulder and gave me a thumbs up. “ _WOOOOOH_!” I shouted back at him. 

After another minute or so, the rest of the archers finished up and their accuracies were recorded. The Headmaster then announced the winner’s line up. Hutch got second since he was the fastest but also three of his shots went way off course. After taking their bows, the students all headed back to the equipment house. Hutch came jogging up to me, a big smile on his face. 

“Good show, good show old chap.” I mustered up my best “kingly” persona. 

“Oh why many thanks, Madam. That was one of my fairer outings if I do say so myself,” Hutch said mimicking me. 

“Quiet indeed. Hoh hoh hoh.”

“Hoh hoh hoh!”

“And I don’t know you people.” Bryn turned and walked away from us. 

“Awww, are you embarrassed by me, BROTHER DEAREST?” I shouted after him. 

Bryn turned and kept walking backwards. “Oh creck you!” He flicked me off. 

“Creck you too!” 

“NIFHEILMS!” Ser Hok’ee shouted across the room. We both ducked our heads our of his disappointed glare.

“So second place, huh?” I batted Hutch in the shoulder. 

He rubbed it. “Yeah, it's definitely better than last time, but I’m not sure if it’ll get us ahead overall.” 

“Yeah, I wish that Niven didn’t break his arm. If he could compete then we’d surely win. Ah well,” I puffed up my chest and put my hands on my hips. “I guess it's up to me then.”

“Speaking of which, where's your sword?”

I froze up in my hero pose. “Frick.” I dashed over to my weapon stand. It wasn’t there. “Frrrriiiick.” I started checking the whet stone, the dummy closet, that big pile of chain mail that we’ve never gotten around to untangling.“Frick. Frick. Frick.” 

Finally I found her, hidden behind a bunch of shields propped against the wall. “There you are, my baby.” I pulled out the greatsword. She was double edged, with the flat of her blade so wide I could stretch my palm across it and not touch either brim. Old Nifheilm runes ran halfway up the center, and the metal was so light that it seemed to shine white. She was _Icebreaker_. “Mommy promises never to lose you like that again.” I kissed the flat of her blade.

A cough came from behind me, I flipped around to see Coach standing there with an esquire girl neck to him. She had dark black skin, with her hair tied up in pom-pom poofs across the top of her head. She already stood like a soldier, all square and stiff. Her armor was so polished it was practically a mirror. 

I propped my elbow up on the hilt of my sword. “Sup.” 

“Rayna, you're going _seventh_ in the dueling list. Okay? Don’t forget this time.” Ser Hok’ee explained very slowly. 

I gave him a little salute, “Yessir!”

Coach sighed and patted the shoulder of the girl before walking away, “Just make sure she gets there on time.”

The girl did a quick bow before turning her steely eyes on me. “Rayna Sigfrid of Nifheilm.”

“Yuuuup…?”

“First daughter of Ylva and Fritjof. Studied at Gravesell for six years before transfer. Specialized in armed combat, greatsword. Ambidextrous though you tend to favor your left,” The girl listed off dutifully.

“Okaaay,” I stuck out my hand to her. “And you are…?”

“You will know my name when they announce me as the victor of our battle.” The esquire puffed up her chest, but she still took my hand and shook it properly. It was one of those practiced handshakes that nearly break your wrist and make you very self aware how uncommitted you were to that handshake cause all of a sudden your entire arm is being whipped up and down like a loose rope. You know those handshakes. 

“You should take that out before we start.” The esquire girl pointed to my opal ear cuff. “It could get ripped out during the duel. Especially if you are going to leave your hair down.”

“Eh, it’ll be fine. Besides, this is my new good-luck charm!” I pulled my mess of curls out of the way and pushed my ear up to her face so she could get a better look at it. It was a golden loop with a bright blue opal inlaid into it. Very nice considering it was something I fished out of the ocean. (I wonder if I should have been worried about getting an infection from it when I pierced my ear. Eh, my ear hasn’t fallen off yet.)

The esquire scrunched up her nose. “How do you know it will work as a good luck charm if it is brand new?” 

“Gut instinct.” I smiled brightly at her. The esquire paid no mind, instead she marched up to the field entrance, and I had to stumble along behind her with Icebreaker. 

“Alright you two,” Ser Hok’ee came up behind us and slapped a hand on our shoulders. “Just don’t kill each other.” 

I let out a nervous laugh while the esquire remained silent, just emotionlessly staring out at the dueling field. (Yeah, I’m probably not going to die.)

Applause filled the arena and the two duelers headed off the field, all sweaty, breathing hard, and covered in kicked up dirt. “Alright. We’re up.” I followed her out into the center of the field. Bleachers on either side were filled with Arce and Gravesell students. Professors and servants were peppered in little groups among them. A little podium stuck out of the bleachers across from us. There sat the Headmaster and Ser Ulen, the principal of Gravesell. I remembered Ulen from my years studying there. He always smiled without teeth. Kinda made him look like a frog. (Do frogs not chew things?)

We took our positions on either side of the chalk circle drawn in the center. The esquire girl drew out her thin rapier sword and set up in a very straight and angled posture. Her thin blade was pointed out towards me. I slammed the tip of my greatsword into the dirt so it would stick up while I squatted down and stretched out my legs. 

The Headmaster stood and announced out to the audience. “For category seven, representing Arce is Princess Rayna of Nifheilm. And representing Gravesell is—” (No way!) “— Esquire Ndidi Obakaeze.” 

The esquire, _Ndidi_ , closed her eyes and took in a deep annoyed breath through her nose. I physically could not contain my smile. 

“First to three strikes or a yield wins. Play fair. Begin!”

I quickly popped back up on my feet and grabbed Icebreaker, setting up in my own stance, one hand just below her wide hilt and the other balanced at the end of the pommel. Ndidi stood patiently at the other end, examining my every move. I spread my stance further apart to anchor myself, sword raised and ready for my opponent to attack. Ndid remained on the other side of the circle, her sword still raised waiting for my attack. For a good solid minute, we just stood waiting for the other person to make the first move. 

I coughed. “Well this is exciting.” 

“Fine,” Ndidi huffed in irritation and launched towards me. It was a basic beginning move, the point of her blade aiming for my chest just off center in order to get around my blade. I raised Icebreaker up as a shield, one hand splayed against the flat so I could block with it. Ndidi’s rapier slide along the one edge, catching on the hilt so I could directed it away from my torso. The movement carried me through so we passed each other, switching sides. I immediately repositioned my hands and swung my blade back around to strike her as we refaced each other. Ndidi was fast though, escaping my range and resetting herself far from the arch that my blade took. 

I had learned to be reactionary with my fighting. Since my brain would literally never shut up, I’ve had trouble deciding the best offensive moves in battle. Ser Hok’ee taught me to focus on the reflex of my opponents move. That way, instinct can take over and I can ignore all the hundreds of other positions or moves that come into my head. The greatsword also helps. She’s such a heavy weapon that once I start a swing with her, I am forced to follow through. That momentum can’t be stopped, so I also can’t second guess one of my attacks midway through. 

Ndidi flitted back within range as my blade reached the opposite end of its arch. I didn’t stop its turning though, instead carrying it back up over my head and down towards Ndidi right when she got close. This forced her to jump back again. Our dance continued like this for a couple more moves. Ndidi would try to get a strike in with her speed and agility, but I would force her back because of the length and width of my sword. 

But I wasn’t always fast enough. Ndid managed to get in two good pokes when I didn’t time my swings just right, leaving myself wide open for her attacks. Again, she closed in again for strike when my blade was turned away from her, but this time I was ready. I stopped the motion of my swing and instead side stepped her rapier. I then took the handle of my sword which was resting on my shoulder and I slammed it into her face. Ndid crashed onto the ground, holding her nose. I heard a few “Ohhh”s and “Owww”s from the audience, but hey, that was technically legal. 

She was on the ground so I arched Icebreaker up, ready to strike, but I didn’t see the rapier at my feet. She slashed it across my ankles and I barely had time to doge out of the way. That would have been her third strike and ended the fight. My greatsword came down way off course, punching the ground by our feet. 

Ndidi summersaulted backwards and got back up onto her feet, blood dribbling down from her nose. Now she really looked pissed. I pulled a little at Icebreaker, but she was defiantly stuck in the dirt. Ndidi’s scrutinizing eyes caught this small struggle. In her anger and exhaustion at this point, she swung around wide, instead of her usually precise thrusts. 

(Ah what the hell. I'm gonna to just try it.)

I gripped the handle of icebreaker and used her as a launching support as I jumped up and kicked both of my feet straight into Ndidi’s chest. The air was literally knocked out of her as she fell flat back onto the ground. 

I abandoned icebreaker and went for her rapier, managing to grasp it front the ground before her hand could reach it. I pointed it down at her throat. 

For a second we were both just panting heavily, trying to process that _yes_ , in fact I did just pull that off. 

Ndidi let her head fall back onto the ground and she raised her hands up in the air. “I yield.” 

“Oh thank the crowns.” I dropped her rapier and collapsed onto the ground next to her. The crowds erupted into applause and I feebly raised one hand in a thumbs up. 

The Headmaster officially called the match and Ndidi offered me a hand getting back up. 

“You fight every admirably, though unconventionally.” She said as she wiped some more blood off her top lip. 

“Yeah you’re crecking terrifying with a sword.” 

“Thank you.” 

We both shook hands and bowed to the audience before (spending like a full minute trying to dislodge Icebreaker from the ground) heading back to the equipment shed. 

I proceeded to plop down on the floor and zone out for the next hour or so. There was more sword fighting and then horses. I do not remember any of the details. 

“And now, I would like to call all of our brave contestant back out onto the field for the official announcement of the victor.” The Headmaster raised her arm to the equipment shed and we all begrudgingly slumped back out into the field and lined up. Everyone was hot and sweaty and _really_ hungry. 

Queen Rose was standing up on the podium to address everyone. “First, I would like to thank all of the students who have competed today. Each of you performed with such skill and determination.” I looked at the eight year old's standing in front of me. (Skill?) “I would also like to thank the Gravesell esquires for traveling this far to compete. This tournament would be rather boring without you. 

“I also have one announcement to make before saying the winners. I know I know, but its important and I would like to say while you’re all gathered here. I have officially received word that the hippogriff that had… breached our security earlier in the school year has officially been hunted down and killed.” 

The crowds around me, all the esquires burst into cheers. I swallowed thickly. I had forgotten that was part of the job description for knights. They hunt down monsters, and macveins. 

“We are all flooded with a sense of relief and gratitude for the brave soldiers that killed the beast. And looking out onto this field today, I can tell that there are plenty more brave soldiers in the making right here.” 

It was us heritors’ turn now to clap for the esquires and knights. 

“So, without further ado, I would like to announce that the victor of the Fall 1642 Tournament is… GRAVESELL!” 

All of the Gravesell kids around us started yelling and screaming in celebrating. The esquire watching from the stands flooded teh field and started a jumping mosh pit around the victors. Everyone kinda saw this coming, since dueling at Arce is basically an afterschool club and we haven’t won a tournament in years, but the Gravesell kids were still excited. After all, we were the only school they could compete with for hundreds of miles. 

That's when the Arce guards down at the wall set off the celebratory cannon blanks. A deafening _KABOOOM_ echoed throughout the grounds. My heart missed a beat. My mind slowed to molasses. All I could hear was my own struggled breathing as I desperately pushed myself out of the sea of people. I couldn’t focus on anything but my breathing. I know I was forcing my lungs to expand and compress. I knew I must have been taking in air. But it felt like nothing. My blood was pumping. My mind was racing. My muscles were constricting in my chest. But every breath was empty. Every gasp was useless. 

I somehow managed to get back into the equipment shed. My legs gave out and I crashed onto the floor on my hands and knees. I need to calm down. I _need_ to clam down. 

My eyes started to water, but I desperately glanced around the room for something. _Anything_. Wooden walls. Windowless wooden walls. My stomached lurched up into my throat. Not that. My finger nails scraped at the stone floor. Stone. There we go. Cool hard stone. Just focus on that Ray. Just breath. Just _breath_. Just _breath_ _dammit_!

“Ray?” I felt a gentle hand on my back. 

“I’m okay!” I gasped. “Heatstroke probably. Felt like—I was gonna puke.” 

I saw Bryn kneel down beside me out of the corner of my eye. I was still staring at the stones beneath my hands. “Here.” He rustled around for a bit before pulling out a water pouch. I took it and slowly took a few gulps. Gradually my breaths started to feel like breaths again. I sighed and sat down crisscross next to my brother, finishing off the rest of the water. 

Bryn just looked at me with that face where he didn’t know what to say but knew he should probably say something. I saved him the trouble, “Good now. We get to go have consolation bacon now right?”

“You just said you were gonna puke.” 

“Yeah, but nothing makes me feel better than bacon!” I tossed Bryn his water pouch back and stood up on shaky legs. 

Bryn watched me suspiciously, but eventually stood up too. “Just try not to pass out before we get there, alright?” He started out ahead of me.

I gave a laugh at that. “Yeah, I’ll do my best.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one can escape the angst in this story.  
> Also, I am not dead! Yay! Sorry this chapter took so long, Ray's a really hard character to write for. But, up next chapter: actual plot! wow!
> 
> (I also put character designs on my tumblr if you guys care, i don't know if you do, but it you want to check it out I'm theemeraldscribe on there)


	8. Ch. 6 - Olivia - Escape Plan

“So there’s going to be lots of food and cake! I’m having the Faces of Outcasts play the entire night. Well not the entire night. They'll get breaks and stuff I mean they are guests as much as you guys are. And you all defiantly do  _ not _ need to bring any presents. My brother has already sent me a ton of stuff so I am definitely good on that front. But I thought it would be a lot of fun to get together! I’m inviting all the upperclassmen plus the Gravesell students and a couple of my friends from back home. You guys don’t know them but they’re really nice-”

“Um Ky?” I interrupted. “When is the party?”

“Oh! Right, you all probably need to know that.” Kyomi giggled with embarrassment. We were all waiting in our first block while Kyomi was up at the front of the room. Debrot was late, again, but none of us were complaining. “October 15. I thought it would be easier to do it on the Autumnal Equinox since we are going to have that week off anyway for Evenfall. My birthday technically isn’t until two weeks later, but this way we can have it at my family’s summer house. Oh! And since it's going to be Evenfall, the party it's going to be a masquerade!” 

Everyone sat up a little bit at that. 

“You can come dressed up as whatever character you want! As long as it's appropriate though… We are going to be chaperoned by a couple guards so it can’t get like too crazy-”

“Will there be alcohol?!” Rayna shouted from the back. 

Kyomi smiled brightly and pointed to her. “No!” 

Mihir turned around and glared at Rayna. “Can you not be a pig for five minutes? Kyomi is only turning 15.”

Rayna sank down in her seat, pouting, “It's no fun if it's legal.” 

Ivy snorted, “Won’t you be 16 by then anyway? So it will be legal for you.”

“ _ Nwe-neme-mene-me _ ,” Rayna mocked and stuck out her tongue at Ivy. 

“Soooooo yeah!” Kyomi continued. “Just let me know if you can make it sometime before the actu-”

_ BLAM! _

Kyomi squeaked and jumped back. Debrot was standing behind her, a thick pile of papers slammed on her desk. Kyomi quickly scurried back to her seat next to Mihir, Debrot glaring at her the entire way. I sat up straighter and folded my hands neatly in my lap. All of those papers must have been the midterm exams that we took yesterday. And judging my Debrot’s face, this was not going to be good.

The professor leaned heavily on her desk, like she was about to start an interrogation. “I have these organized from highest to lowest. That way, you all know who to make a little study group with, and who to avoid like the Mananan Plague. Though I’m not sure how much copying off each other will help considering half of you clearly don’t even pick up the GODDAMN TEXTBOOK!” She smacked her hand hard down onto the table. That jolted awake Rupley, the assigned guard, who had been sleeping in his little chair in the back of the classroom. He just re-crossed his legs and stared out the window. 

Sir Rupley was… there. At least. And so far that was enough for Debrot to leave her metal cane at her desk whenever she stalked around the room. 

“Next week we will also be redoing all of my lectures from the last three chapters. Maybe you’ll listen this time. Come up and grab your exam when I call your name. No comments or questions when you are up here. You are to look over your entire exam before making any requests of me. And NO TALKING!” Debrot stood up like a drill sergeant and picked up the first exam from the pile. “Heir Princess Olivia of Ridire Ceo!”

+++++

A 90.6%. 

That's still an A. 

That's not failing. It's not my highest grade and it’ll bring down my GPA. But it's still an A. Debrot doesn’t offer extra credit, but if one of my other teachers does, then overall it should balance out…

I chewed my lip as I contemplated my grades. The suffocating silence that was the last fifteen or so minutes had slowly dissipated. I assumed Debrot didn’t have anything else planned for class, so this was going to be a very interesting hour. 

Plenty of time for me to figure out if I could increase my grade with the next test.

A tapping on my desk drew my attention to Rayna. She signed to me while mouthing the words, “How did you do?”

I subtly folded over the corner with my grade before responding, “Okay. What about you?” 

Rayna scrunched up her face. “I passed.”

I lightened up my movements, “That’s good! Passing is good!”

“Aww, psh.” Rayna waved off the compliment in fake humility.

I took the moment to break away from my school based anxiety to get resituated. With my hearing, one thing I’ve learned to do is observe. The better I know the situation around me, the better I can place the bits and blurred pieces of conversation I get into context. 

Currently, Ivy was trying to balance all her quills on her fingertips. Hutch was slyly blowing them off whenever Ivy got close. Espie was doodling in a little journal. Mihir was intently going back over her exam, rechecking all her answers. Kyomi had taken all the pages of her test and folded each one into a paper hat which she was now stacking one on top of the other on her head. Rayna was watching this with pure awe. Niven was focused on reading some book, his test left ignored on his desk. Rupley was dozing off again. And Autumne…

Oh… Autumne was up at the front of the classroom talking to Prof. Debrot. Their voices were far too low for me to hear, but her posture was slumped and her face was desperate. Their conversation couldn’t be about anything good. 

Debrot’s face started to become more and more red, brows furrowing so deep her eyes nearly disappeared. Eventually, her metal cane smacked into the floor. Everyone jolted. Ivy quickly snatched up all her quills and Kyomi’s hats scattered to the floor. Debrot’s voice sliced through the hushed movements, “Excuses! There are three other bilingual students in this class, but I do not get complaints from them, Heir Princess Autumne of Villdeurvanne!”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ivy physically twitch.

“Sorry,” Autumne whimpered. She bowed her head and scurried back to her seat, passing Mihir along the way. The Princess of Sedeset subtly leaned into the aisle, blocking Autumne’s path. Mihir leaned in and snickered something to her. Autumne’s eyes widened and her face dropped. She sucked in a sharp breath and bolted out of the room.

She looked like she was about to cry.

A sharp screech across the floor drew my attention. Ivy’s chair was pushed out and she was halfway up from it, but Hutch’s grip on her arm kept her there. She was glaring daggers into the back of Mihir’s head. 

My eyes darted around to the rest of the faces. Kyomi had her hands over her mouth in shock. Espie and Rayna were both looking at me with worry. 

Debrot made the first move. “The immaturity! NO ONE can leave my class before dismissal. I am going to get the Headmaster.  _ None of you are dismissed _ .” She pointed her cane at all of us before strutting out of the classroom. 

As soon as she was gone I leapt from my seat and started gathering Autumne’s things. “I’m going to go check up on her,” I informed Rayna as I finished with Autumne’s bag and grabbed my own. I didn’t even check her reaction before I was also out the door and racing down Arce’s long hallways. 

I searched for the Princess, but there was no sign of her. The corridors were empty of heritors. First block was still going so whenever I passed a classroom door, I quickly slowed my pace to a brisk walk before picking back up again. There were a couple servants here and there, diligently working in the quiet halls. Some were polishing suits of armor, or replacing candles. A few young pages raced past me. 

One young servant boy who had his arms full of books caught my attention and nodded his head towards the Dining Room. I glanced over to see one of the doors slightly ajar. Breakfast was long over, no one should be in there…

I thanked the boy and quickly made my way to the doors. I quietly slipped into the Dining Room. All of the plates and dishes were clear. The sea of round tables all had their chairs tucked in neatly and clean tablecloths draped over them. And there she was, sitting all alone at a table a little off to the side. Her legs were crisscrossed on the plush seats. Her skirts bunched up into a ruffled mess. Her eyes were a little puffy from crying, but her cheeks had dried. 

A server boy came in from the kitchen and placed a cup of freshly made tea in front of her. Autumne sniffled and smiled at the boy, “ _ Merci Beaucoup. _ ” The serving boy bowed and disappeared back into the kitchen. 

I quietly walked up beside her. 

Autumne glanced up at me, the steaming cup just resting up by her lips but she wasn’t drinking any yet. Just holding it. “ _ Salut, _ ” She said quietly.

“ _ Salut, _ ” I returned. I took that as a cue and sat down in the seat next to her. “Are you okay?” 

She huffed a little. “Non. But I will be. You do not need to worry.”

I leaned onto the table a little. “I still am. We’re friends. Aren’t we?”

Autumne’s eyes widened at that, the tea cup still obscuring half her face. “I mean, sure, yes of course, if you think, if you want because that would be nice…” She quickly sipped her tea and looked away embarrassed. 

I smiled brightly at her. “So do you want to talk about it?”

“Ha. Which part?”

“Whatever part you want?” I offered. 

Autumne’s pale blue eyes searched my face as she decided. Finally, she took a massive gulp of her burning hot tea before slamming it down on the table and looking at me head on. 

She took in a deep inhale, eyes filled with fury. “ _ Well- _ ”

Now it's tricky for me to understand people in common. So there is no possible way for me to understand, let alone explain, the angry tirade of Villdeuren that spewed from Autumne’s mouth for about five minutes. 

I managed to catch a few name drops of Mihir and Debrot during the beginning, but those quickly died off as she continued. There were many other things bothering her. The anger slowly faded and the tears started to come back. Autumne furiously wiped her cheeks and dribbling nose on the sleeve. Finally, her mouth stilled. Her pale eyes locked onto mine again. They were desperate. Lonely.  _ Oh _ .

She was homesick. 

Autumne sighed and turned back to her tea. I cleared my throat, testing my volume before speaking. “Maybe, it would be good to have a little break from school. I mean, we’ve been going non stop with it for a month. Back in Villdeurvanne…” Autumne turned to me curiously. “...what did you use to do for fun?” 

“Euhhhh, I would garden with my mother. I like to read books about medicine… but that is kinda boring…” She chuckled lightly. “My siblings and me, when we were young,“ Autumne starred off at the far wall, eyes glazing over. “There are woods within our palace walls, my father used them for hunting. But during the off season, we would go adventuring in them. We would spend hours in those woods, collecting funny little plants and stones. My little brother, Vallon, would make forts out of the sticks.  Clémentine would catch bugs and bring them home in jars. My parents hated that.” She laughed, but then signed sadly again. 

“Well,” I started thinking out loud. “There are no woods within the grounds here, but there are some by Pennbrooke. And the village is less than an hour by foot.”

Autumne propped her face up on her hand. “I think you are forgetting that we are not allowed to go down to Pennbrooke.”

“That doesn’t mean students haven’t.” Autumne still looked skeptical, but my mind started going through all the possibilities. “It's not even midday so there will still be guards, but all the teachers and students will be busy in class. And we can skip the rest of them since it's just going to be going over more midterms… besides I don’t think any of the teachers are expecting you to show up. You did look very depressed going out of there.” I scrunched up my face apologetically. 

Autumne groaned and downed the rest of her tea. The door to the kitchen opened again and the same servant boy came over to collect Autumne’s cup and saucer. 

“That's it!” I snapped my fingers. Autumne started. Oops, that must have been loud. I waited for the servant to return to the kitchen before continuing. “The servants. Tomorrow is the weekend, so most of them are going home to their families. I don’t think the guards will notice if two more head to Pennbrooke with them.” 

Autumner crossed her arms, thinking it over. “It could work,” she said finally. I perked up. “But-,” she continued seeing my face. “Olivia, we do not exactly look like servants.” 

I smiled brightly at her. Now the plan was coming together. “ _ That  _ is an easy fix.”

+++++

“No.”

“What? Paige, please?”

“No! No way,” She glanced around before leaning in closer. “I’m not going to steal some uniforms so you guys and sneak out. That is  _ very  _ much against the rules. And you guys could get lost, or seriously hurt, or even worse: recognized!” She went back to collecting eggs. We found her back by the chicken coop behind the Servants Quarters. There weren’t too many servants around, so no one could overhear us.

“Then come with us!” I offered. “You make sure we can get home safely and not do anything that seems too…”

She raised her eyebrow, “Princess-y?”

“Yes.”

“Pleeeease, Paige!” Autumne put down the couple baby chicks she was holding and took the servant’s hands in her own, giving her best puppy-dog eyes. “I would love for you to show me around your hometown!”

“Eh, Penbrooke’s not really…”

“And! It would mean so much to me! You all have been so kind to make me feel welcome here, but it would just be nice to do something that,” her voice took a more serious tone. “reminds me of home.”

“ _ Ohhh... _ ,” Paige started to cave.

“Plus,” I jumped in. “If we get caught-”

“When we get caught,” Paige interjected.    


My eyes widened. “So you’ll do it?!”

“I-” Paige took her hands back and pulled at the end of her braid nervously. “I do have to run errands downtown today…”

Autumne clapped excitedly. “ _ C’est parfait! _ ”

I put my hand on Paige’s shoulder to help relieve her stress. “ _ If  _ we get caught, I’ll take all the blame. This is my plan after all. And, the Headmaster is an old family friend, so I’m sure she’ll go easy.”

Paige crossed her arms and sighed. But I knew Paige was never one to back down from an adventure. “You’re going to owe me big time for this.”

I smiled brightly. “Absolutely.” 

Paige left to get the disguises while Autumne and I did our best to not look too suspicious. Just two princesses, dressed in silks and pearls. Not in class with everyone else. Chilling by a chicken coop.

When she returned, we took turns changing in the tool shed while the others stood guard. 

The servant's uniform was far more itchy than what I was expecting. It also hung off of me like a potato sack. I’ve never been one obsessed with my appearance—not like Autumne who had gently tucked away her gown like it was a child—but I like things to be exact. No waste. All efficient. And comfortable. So all my blouses were tailored and every button was buttoned: sleeves down to the wrists and collars up to the neck. I don’t think of myself as a prude or anything, I just liked the style. I thought it made me look older. 

But the servant’s blouse was bunched up at my waist. The skirt ended about my shins. The spare boots that Paige found were caked in mud and my tiny feet rattled around inside of them. Though, admittedly the pocket bags were nice. 

Paige also wheeled over a small cart with some type of two-wheeled vehicle at the front. 

“Oh, what is that?” Autumne went up and curiously looked over the strange machine. 

Paige shrugged. “It's my bike. Ivy brought it down from Synth one year for my birthday. I’m going to be picking up a lot of groceries, so I need something to carry it. Also, horses… kinda… scare me.”

Autumne and I gave each other a look. 

“What?” Paige raised her hands defensively. “They could literally kill you with a kick! This is so much safer.” 

I raised an eyebrow at the many spokes and gears sticking out of the machine. “Yes, that looks very safe.”

“Whatever.” Paige tossed each of us a wet rag. “Try to wipe off all your makeup. And then, we need to fix your hair.” 

“My hair?” Autumne put a hand to the intricate braids that wrapped around her head. 

Paige tugged the end of her own long braid. “It's part of the uniform.” Paige set to work helping Autumne take out the hundred or so pins that kept her hair up in its crown while we took off our makeup. Eventually she unwrapped a long light blue ribbon from the mass of blond curls. It had a yellow stone beaded onto it. 

“Oh, I will take that.” Paige passed the ribbon to Autumne. “It was a gift.” She nodded with understanding and finished off Autumne’s servant braid. 

“You should hide it though.” Autumne quickly tucked the ribbon into her pocket. Paige’s eyes drifted to my charm bracelet. It was silver with an amethyst stone. Also something too expensive for a servant to own. 

My hand immediately went to it. “You know I don’t take this off,” I whispered to her. 

Paige nodded but still looked nervous. “Just try to keep it hidden.” 

Once Autumne’s hair was down in a much simpler braid, Paige moved over to work on mine. Something unusual was clipped to her belt though. “Wait, Paige, is that a dagger?”

“Oh. Yeah.” She casually unsheathed the blade, flipped it so the handle faced me, and passed it over. I  _ extremely _ carefully took it and examined the small blade. It had some rust on its hilt and handle. There weren't many scratches across its blade, but the edges were dull. It looked more old and unused than worn out. “It's one of the servants' communal knives, I guess?” Paige chuckled a little. “I don’t usually take it when I head out but I thought since you two are coming, better be safe?” 

I gently handed the dagger back to her. She slipped it back into its sheaf with practiced ease.

“You think there’s going to be trouble?”

“Oh, no no!” She finished off with my braid and walked around to my front so I could look at her. “It's just a precaution. Penbrooke’s a really sweet town anyway. And.. I honestly don't really know how to use it. Worse comes to worse, I just throw it at them and we  _ run. _ ” 

I snorted out a laugh at that. “Great plan.” 

With disguises donned, Paige guided us to one of the side gates. The big iron bars were raised halfway between the two stone towers. A couple other servants were heading down the path outside. 

“Here, Autumne.” I nudged her side as we got closer to the gate. “Pretend to talk to me.”

“Euh, okay? What should we talk about?”

“I don’t really know?”

“ _ This was your idea! _ ”

“ _ Well, we’re talking right now aren’t we? _ ”

“ _ Stop nervous whispering! It's just making us look more suspicious! _ ”

“ _ Don’t say suspicious! _ ”

“Ey! Paige!” 

We all looked over to the knight who had called. Paige quickly peddled her cart over to the guard’s tower, away from us two. 

“Alex! Ey, I was just headin’ down to Pennbrooke to pick up some stuff. Prob’ly be back before dinner.” Paige’s whole demeanor shifted when she spoke to the guard. Her shoulders slumped back casually. Her lips quirked to the side. All tell-tale signs that she was slipping into muddled tongue.

“Great. Can you pick me up some blade oil while you're out?  _ George, _ ” the guard called back through the open door of the tower. “spilled my entire bottle.”

Paige nodded. “Yeah. Just give me a silver and I’ll give you back any change.” The guard handed over the coin and Paige peddled back to us.

By then, Autumne and I had walked through the gate and were now a little ways down the path outside of the school’s walls. 

“Talking is amazing.”

“Yes. I love talking.” 

“Alright guys, I think we’re in the clear.” Paige slowed down in step next to us.

I let out a shaky laugh. Autumne nearly fell to her knees. “Holy crap. We actually did it.”

“The plan actually worked!”

“Yeah, that is a serious security problem,” Paige looked over her shoulder at the slowly disappearing gate, but grinning like a mad man. She slowed down so Autumne and I could hop onto the cart. We reached the edge of the hill. Autumne stood up, hands on my shoulder to steady herself as she looked out over the valley. 

The sun was still rising, casting warmth over the trees and fields below us. Farmer fields sectioned off the planes like a jumbled quilt, rows of trees and bushes lining the boarders. And there, just a little ways in the distance was the flat rooftops of a small village. 

“Hold on tight!” Paige warned as she tipped her bike over the edge of the slope. Autumne quickly sat back down and we both held on for dear life as Paige peddled downhill. The chilled wind whipped around us, stinging our cheeks. Orange and yellow leaves flew past. 

“WHOOOO!” Autumne yelled and raised her arms in the air. I quickly grabbed her one hand before she went tumbling off the backside. But I couldn’t stop smiling either. The trees racing by. The stones we hit which made the whole cart jump up. The peasants we zoomed past on the road, giving us weird looks. 

It was incredible. 

Eventually the slope evened out and we lost most of the speed. Autumne jumped off the back and ran over to the edge of the road. She ran her hand along the tall grass as we went along. I jumped off too so Paige wasn’t pulling my weight, and I walked along beside her. 

It was peaceful and exhilarating. To be out in the real world. To be a part of the real world. No guards surrounding your every side. No parents holding your hands. To just, exist. No expectations. 

After a couple minutes of quietness, Paige bumped her shoulder into mine. “Soooooo…” Her voice was slightly lower. “I think I get why Autumne wants a break, but why are you so being so adamant about this?”  
“What?” I shrugged and smiled at her. “Am I not allowed to do something improper once and awhile?”

“No, no,” Paige shook her head. “It's just, unusual for you. Unexpected. Did something happen today?” 

I shrugged again and looked out at the passing scenery. Castiland was so different from home. The sky was clear. The wind was lazy. The dirt we kicked up from the road was getting all over my skirt. And I didn’t care. Though, I should definitely get this outfit washed when we get back considering it's not mine… 

“Midterms were today,” Paige answered for herself. When I didn’t look at her, she nudged my shoulder again. “How did you do?”

I signed to her, “90.6”

“Ahhh,” she nodded. 

“It's not the worst grade,” I continued to sign.

“But it's the worst for you,” she returned in the same manner. It wasn’t mean or targeted, the way she signed it. I could tell by her face. She was just acknowledging a truth.

I cast my eyes down. It was stupid, I was still top of my class. I was still in the A’s. And I  _ know _ that grades aren’t everything. 

I tugged at my bracelet, att the silver charms that dangled off of it. Ballerina shoes. A flute. A songbird. The amethyst stone. 

After I lost my hearing, my parents encouraged me to try so many different things. To prove to myself that I could still  _ do _ stuff like this. And I could, I was even pretty good at most of them. But they never felt like more than hobbies. 

But I loved school. I was good at it. Really good at it. It was like a skill to me. Something I had perfected. 

“How did you do on the other tests?” Paige continued.

“I don’t know.” I was too scared to find out. What if it wasn’t just Debrot’s class? What if I did just as bad in the others?

“Well then,” Paige straightened up and gave me a little salute. “Then I will make this errand run the most interesting errand run  _ ever _ .”

I chuckled a little. “Sorry about dragging you into all of this.”

“Don’t worry. This’ll be fun. Besides, I’ve needed a bit of a break too.”

Autumne skipped over to use, wildflowers were pouring out of her pockets and stuck into her hair. She put a daisy behind each of our ears and looked at us in dead seriousness. “We are brethren now.” 

All three of us burst out laughing. 

“Come on, we’re almost there.” 

I had passed through Pennbrooke to and from school multiple times. But those were always glimpses behind rows of guards or carriage walls before being rushed into a fancy inn. But now my feet were walking the streets. Paige was pointing out shops as we went by, explaining which bakery had the best pastries, the local theater, the little family restaurant.

The houses of Pennbrooke were all made of brick, with flat fronts lined up along the wide sidewalks. There were slight differences in each. The placement of windows, the slopes of the roofs, the carvings on the shutters. And each was painted with a different color. Light blues, soft greens, bright yellows. They looked like books lined up on a shelf. 

Autumne and I followed Paige around town, watching the cart as she went into stores to buy items. She picked up spools of thread, jars for preservatives, fresh candles, sweet smelling soaps, and many other little items. Soon the cart was stuffed with goods and we couldn’t ride on the back. Paige also bought of each a warm pretzel, which Autumne and I swore we would repay her for even though she kept insisting it was her treat. 

As the day wore on, we made our way to the more outskirts of the town. The buildings became more spread out. The road more uneven. The tree line of the woods could be seen over the roofs. 

“Here.” Paige stopped the cart in front of a small blacksmith’s shop. It looked like an old barn that had many stone additions built onto it, including a massive forge in the back. The double wooden doors were swung wide open, but I could still feel the heat radiating from the room. 

At an anvil in the center was the blacksmith himself. He looked like a much older man, the orange glow of the coals lite up the many wrinkles on his face. But they all looked like smile lines and crowfeet. He had dark black skin and salt and pepper hair, with a beard that looked a little singed from the fires. 

Paige parked the cart by the doors and walked in. I stood guard by it while Autumne went over to look at the little brook nearby the road. 

“Well! Gooday to you Miss Arce!” The artisan looked up from his work and smiled brightly at Paige. 

“Hello Ron!” she greeted back. “Is your daughter not here?”

“Nah, I finally convinced her to get out of the house!” He wiped his hands on his leather apron and walked over to her. “So what can I do for you?” 

“I was wondering if you have any blade oil?” 

My attention drifted off as they continued talking. It was just past noon now. Paige is almost done with her errands, so then we can explore the woods a little bit and return to Arce around dinner. At that time the guards should be pretty busy with the big group of servants heading home so we should be able to sneak back in the way we came. 

Suddenly the cart shifted forward and knocked me out of thought. I looked down to the end and saw a little boy there, hand halfway in one of the bags filled with rice. We locked eyes and he remained frozen there, staring at me in fear. 

His clothes were filled with tears and looked like they had been re-stitched a dozen times. They were far too small on him, with his pants not reaching his ankles and his sleeves barely passing the elbows. He was paper thin. And so young. He must have been Owen’s age. 

“Its okay,” I reached into my pocket and pulled out some silver pieces. I had brought a little bit of money since I assumed we would head into town. I thought I might buy a mask for Kyomi’s party, but so far we hadn’t come across any shop selling them. The boy looked at the coins in awe but cautiously approached me. 

As he got closer, I noticed something off about him. His nose was sharp. His irises were a strange shade of yellow. And little horns were poking out between his curls.

This boy was a macvien. 

“HEY!” 

I jolted and the maciven boy scurried away from me. Paige marched up to us, one hand on the hilt of the dagger. Her eyes darted around the scene, quickly assessing what happened. Her voice was cold as she addressed the boy, “If you need food, the Blackbush Bakery throws away all they’re stale bread after closing. If you ask the cleaner boy politely, he’ll let ya take some. If ya need clothes, Madam Domet on West Third sometimes makes coats out of old scraps. If ya need money, then Nettle’s Inn always needs stable boys.”

The boy glared up at Paige, but his eyes kept darting to my hand of silver. Paige stepped protectively in front of me. “But ya ain’t gettin any of that here.  _ Ya hear? _ ” 

The boy spit at the ground by Paige’s feet. “Arse kissers!” he snarled before scampering away. 

Paige turned around to me, hand dropping from the dagger. “Olivia, what were you thinking? You can’t just give a kid like that money!”

“Why?” I shoved the silver back in my pocket. My voice was sharp. “Because he’s a macvein?”

“ _ No. _ ” The look she gave me was completely sincere. “Its because he’s trying to steal from Arce servants in broad daylight while you’re literally two steps from the cart! If he keeps trying stuff like that, he’s gonna get caught. And most people won’t let him go empty handed because most people won’t let him go with his  _ hands _ .” 

I swallowed and stepped back a little. 

Paige hesitated, seeming to register what she had just said, and who she had said it to. “I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped like that.”

“No, its okay,” I responded quickly. “You’re the one who knows the rules out here.” 

We stood there for a moment, not really sure what to say next. I looked around the area. The boy was definitely gone. And there was no other people around who would have heard that. 

“Wait, where’s Autumne?” 

Paige’s eyes widened and she quickly looked around the street. We call out her name a couple times but no answer came. She was gone.

“ _ Oh no. _ What if she got lost? She was with us when we got here, right? What if she got kidnapped?” Panic started rising in Paige’s voice. 

“Hey,” I grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “She was here. Down by the stream. And the whole reason we came to Pennbrooke anyway was to explore the forest.” I motioned to the tree line leading into the shaded woods. “I’m sure she just headed in a little ways without telling us. How well do you know these woods?”

“I-I know them a little bit. They go for a couple miles in that direction, then you hit more farmland.” She started to calm down. “Actually, I might know where she’s headed.” Paige pointed to the tops of the trees. There, just barely sticking out above them was some pointed shape. It was too angled to be made from nature. I squinted at it. “Is that a tower?”

“To the old ruins,” Paige confirmed. “She could have spotted the roof and wanted to investigate?”

“That does sound like her. We should get going.” 

Paige turned back to the blacksmith. Had he been watching this whole exchange? “Ron, can you watch the cart for me?”

“Of course Miss Arce. I shall guard it with my life!” he reached behind himself and pulled out a massive crossbow. We took a step back. “Now you go find that runaway princess.”

Paige and I both glanced at each other. Ron raised an eyebrow at my rumpled disguise and then winked at me. Paige laughed nervously, “Thanks Ron.” 

And so we ventured into the dark woods. Paige carefully guided me between the trees and over the logs. We kept calling out to Autumne but there was no answer, and she was still no where in sight. Now the wind was starting to pick up, carrying away our voices and pushing harshly at our backs. 

A crumbling stone arch came into view. The castle that once stood here must have been huge. The doorway was twenty feet tall, and I could make out pillars and steps hundreds of feet in the distance. But the majority of the ruins were taken back by the forest. The small clearing that we came into was only the size of my bedroom. Only two walls still stood, half broken, and slowing being eaten by moss and ivy. Most of the stones were so time worn that they looked like apart of the forest. The floors were completely carpeted in grass. A small tree sprouted from the center, soaking up the sunlight that filtered through the canopy above. 

But sure enough, the tower stood. While every cobblestone structure around it was crumbling away, its base looked untouched. Some plants and started to grow up in the cracks between its grey stones, but as the wind howled against it, the tower remained as strong as ever. The cylinder went up fifty or so feet, with a large octagonal chamber overhanging at the top, just peaking above the leaves. 

“I never knew this was here,” I wondered allowed as I walked up onto one of the stone platforms by the base of the tower. The intricate granite pattern of the floor peaked through the dirt covering it. 

“Castiland’s got tons of ruined castles from the Erased Age. Hence, ya know, the name.” The wind picked up again so Paige hurried over to me, where some of the walls provided a bit of shelter. “Ironic right? Cause we don’t have a king.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. I paid enough attention in Debrot’s class to know this history. The last King of Castiland ruled three hundred years ago: King Frederick the Barren. He was beloved by his people for advocating for revolutionary ideas, like the abolishment of serfdom. But it was ideas like that which got him assassinated. And his subsequent death sparked the Peasant’s War. 

Since then, the ruling Duke of the Monro Duchy oversaw all of Castiland. The kingdom was small though, and largely insignificant with trade and politics, so there wasn’t a need to get a new king. The people respected the memory of Frederick the Barren too much, and honestly liked the Duke. He was apparently very nice.

“I still don’t see her,” Paige sighed as she wrapped around herself. It looked like a storm was coming now. “Maybe we should head back and see if she’s at the blacksmith’s?”

“Yeah, I guess she didn’t come this way.” I pushed by hair out of my face as the wind blew it around. “Don’t worry we’ll find her.”

But Paige wasn’t listening anymore, her eyes were tracking my wrist. I glanced down to it. My bracelet was glowing. The  _ amethyst _ was glowing. 

I looked back up at Paige. Something was glowing just beneath her collar as well. “Your necklace.”

Paige untucked her emerald necklace and looked down at it. A strong green light was admitting from it. Paige’s eye’s widened. “Oh no.”

I brought my bracelet up to my face. “Is it…  _ magic _ ?” 

“Crowns I hope not.” Paige took off her necklace and held it in the palm of her hand. “That would be very much illegal.” 

I saw something flash out of the corner of my eye. “There!” 

At the base of the tower, where it was just a curved stone wall, I saw two little holes glinting with gold. Each hole was no bigger than a pebble. They were right at our level, just staring at us like gilded eyes. Paige took out the dagger, and with its point tried to pick away at the surrounding stone. She pulled with all her might, but the ancient rock wouldn’t budge. Instead, the tip of her blade chipped off instead. 

“Do you think…” I unlatched my bracelet and held the stone up to the hole. It was the perfect size. The light emitting from the amethyst grew brighter the closer I brought it to the cavity. 

Paige slowly did the same with her necklace. The same reaction happened. We both stood there, arm outstretched with the gemstones, but not yet placing them flush into the rock. 

“This feels like a really bad idea,” Paige muttered. 

I smirked. “This feels like a great idea.”

We both placed the gems into the wall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you AO3 for having better autocorrect than frickin Google Docs


	9. Ch. 7 - Ivy - Truths and Secrets

I watched Olivia dash out of the classroom and I shook off Hutch’s grasp on my arm. Mihir was still turned around, acting like nothing had happened.

_ Rupley _ , the ever helpful guard, awkwardly made his way up to the front of the class. “Uhhhhhh okay? I guess I’m subbing now? Uhhhh…” He grabbed a wooden yard stick and held it like Debrot does her cane. “No one else leave! Alright? Just, uh, keep doing that. Yeah.” 

I marched up straight to Mihir’s desk. I ripped her chair out from under it, with her still seated. My one hand still gripped the back of the chair as I leaned over her. Mihir looked up at me calmly. 

I growled. “What did you say to her?” 

“Ivy, I’m not going to play the pronoun game here. You're going to have to be a bit more specific-”

“Autumne,” I snarled. 

“Oh, well I can’t exactly quote myself word for word since I work in the moment, but I can tell you it was just the truth.” Mihir brushed her hair off her shoulder.

I narrowed my eyes.

“Oh come on. For all of your brooding and hotheadedness, you're not an idiot, Ivy. Autumne is obviously failing. But the only reason she was transferred here in the first place was because her grades were slipping at Regenwood. Her parents thought that a more competitive environment would encourage her to put more effort in. But I guess that hasn’t been the case.”

“Mihir-” Kyomi reached out to her, but her friend pulled away.

“No, what were you expecting? For us to baby her? If she can’t handle this kind of pressure, then there's no hope for her to rule a kingdom. She should step aside before that kind of weakness affects her people.” Mihir was eyeing the rest of the class now, selling her speech to a wider audience. 

“Oh  _ okay _ , so if Common wasn’t your first language and you had just moved across the entire country, then you would be  _ grateful _ for me to humiliate you. Since I guess the only other option to babying is acting like a _ bitch _ .” I shoved Mihir’s chair back. She stumbled a bit, but caught herself and stood up. Mihir was a good six inches shorter than me, but she met my eye with a ferocity. Good. 

“I get that your parents didn’t give you enough attention as a child, Ivy-” I set my jaw. “-but at some point you need to grow up. Autumne does too. If she needs to go off and cry in a corner in order…”

I didn’t even hear the rest of the sentence. “This isn’t about me,” I cut her off. 

Something sparked in Mihir’s eyes. “Oh, but it is. With you it always is.”

Someone’s hand gripped my shoulder. Probably Rayna. I didn’t care enough to look. All I could see was Mihir, and those poisonous words that spilled from her blood red lips. 

“You take every chance you can get to make a show of yourself. This isn’t chivalry. Autumne’s gone. You're just doing this for yourself now. You just want to be noticed. To be  _ interesting _ .” She was hissing now. “Why wouldn’t you? Your mother would rather spend her time being Headmaster, splitting her attention among a hundred other kids, than preparing you for the throne. And you had… what was it?” My breath was coming out ragged now. There was no classroom. No knight, three steps from us, yelling at me to sit down. No hand on my shoulder. Just Mihir’s pitch black eyes, smirking red lips, her taunting voice echoing around in my head. And my heart pounding in my ears. “ _ Two _ fathers that left you?” 

She was on the floor before I registered what happened. 

Mihir gasped, clutching her nose as blood dribbled down her chin. My knuckles were throbbing from the punch, but it was numbed out. Everything was numb. Everything was blurred at the edges. Slowed down. Silhouettes of my friends lagged closer in my peripheral. But my heartbeat was still in my ears. Only Mihir was in focus. Only her voice I could hear. 

She sneered at me, red staining her perfect white teeth. “Or maybe that's why they left.” 

I lunged forward again, white knuckled fist ready. Her eyes widened a moment, the smallest flash of fear. Maybe regret. 

But then a form rushed into my narrow view, between me and Mihir. My fist collided much sooner than I anticipated, more pent up force than I was planning. The person stumbled back a bit, but managed to remain standing. 

I staggered. The whole world came rushing back. 

Rupley had his short sword drawn, pointing it at me like I was a threat. An enemy. His eyes darted anxiously between me and Mihir. Rayna’s hands were bruising my arm as she shouted at me to snap out of it, they were probably the only thing holding me up now. Kyomi was fluttering around Mihir, still on the ground clutching her face. Hutch was standing in front of me, touching his cheek where my fist had collided into him. 

“Heh. That was some right hook.” He smiled at me, jokingly like he always did, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I hurt him. 

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” My mom charged into the room, Niven at her heels. Had he gone to get her? I hadn’t even noticed he left.

The room was silent. 

My eyes flickered up from my hands. My heartbeat moved from my ears to my throat. “I-” my voice failed. I just stared at Mihir, still crouched on the ground holding her nose. Bleeding. I did that. Why didn’t I stop? Why couldn’t I stop-

“Out. Now.” The Headmaster strode across the classroom in less than three steps. She reached out like she was going to grab my arm but she hesitated halfway through. Instead she switched the position, sharply signaling me to the door. 

I just nodded silently, wrapping my arms around myself. My eyes flickered back to Hutch. He looked back at me, he looked worried for me. I had just slugged him in the face as he was worried about me. 

I turned and went out the door into the hallway. The classroom door across the way snapped shut suddenly. The whole wing probably heard that fight. 

I leaned against the wall, just out of view of the doorway while I waited for the Headmaster. My knuckles were bright red, pinpricks of blood sprouting from them. 

“The rest of you will return to your dorms for the rest of the day. Am I understood?” The Headmaster’s stern voice came from the classroom. 

A scrambled murmur of “yes ma'am” followed. 

“Rupley.”

“YE-yes? Your Majesty?” 

I could hear her suck in a frustrated breath. “Just, go back to the guard’s tower.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” 

Then she was by my side out in the deserted hallway. I tucked my head down, watching her feet. She turned and started down the corridor. I followed silently. 

We didn’t go to her dark office, where the curtains were pulled and the chair swallowed me whole. I followed her down the steps out the front door, finally stopping right in front of the great oak. Out in the bright sun and open grounds, my stupidness,  _ my faults _ , never felt more on display. 

My mom sighed, leaning her head all the way back so it faced up into the canopy of leaves. But she was burning with anger. 

“Why? WHY?” She turned to me, eyes storming. “Every year it's something! Do I even want to hear the excuse this time?!” 

I flinched. I had been holding my breath, forcing myself to not react but I couldn’t stop it. I guess over time I had been slacking. 

She sighed again, defeated, and sank to the ground. She propped her arms up on her knees and looked past me, at the front doors of the Main Hall that loomed over my shoulder. She turned her head away but patted the ground next to her. 

I swallowed and sat down next to her, not touching her at all but still feeling far too close. 

She looked at me. The storm calming in her grey eyes. She didn’t look at me in pity. She didn’t do that anymore, I guess she’s gotten too used to it. 

After a few moments of painfully awkward silence, she pulled something off her dress and placed a little black broach on the stone next to me. It was beautifully crafted, white silver vines encircling an oval stone. The gem itself was almost completely black, save for white streaks that sprouted from its center, like how the flame from a candle gets all spiky when you squint at it. 

“Your grandfather gave this to me when I was about your age.”

I tucked my arms into my armpits, chin resting on my knees. “Lemme guess, it's a good luck charm.” 

“No. The myth behind it is that the black sapphire traps the star that fell from the heavens. The one meant to cause the apocalypse.”

“Oh.” I delicately picked up the broach, now interested. “Well that’s badass.”

She ignored my comment and continued. “But that's not the point behind it. Your Grandfather was gifted this from a general at Rohast. He had stopped a supposive rebellion, killing nearly a hundred Outlanders. This was the prize the general claimed from them. Your grandfather wore it everyday in council as a reminder that  _ violence _ isn’t always the answer.” 

I snorted out in disbelief. Of course. That's what this conversation is going to be. “Creck. I already feel like shit for punching her okay?”

Her voice was still steady. “I don't want to see you going down that path.”

“I know! I’m not planning on it!”

“You’re not listening to me-”

“You're not listening to me!”

“Ivandria!”

I looked the opposite direction of her. “Just give me detention and be done with it. I’m sure you have so many other responsibilities to deal with right now.”

“I do, but I’m here. Dealing with this.” Dealing with me. 

“I didn’t ask you to! You don’t need to check up on me every five seconds.”

“Then don’t blow up every five seconds.”

“I’m not some kid-”

“Oh, you're sure acting like one.”

“So are you! I thought you were supposed to be the adult! You're just shouting at me and telling me that I’m going to grow up to be some mass murderer!”

My mom took a long shaky breath. She stood up, harshly brushing off the dirt from her skirts. “Fine. I’ll be the adult. Detention. Every Saturday this term. And for the next week no archery. You will go straight back to your dorm after class and study. End of conversation.”

“You can’t just take my archery!” I sounded like a whiny little kid, but she had already turned her back and walked back to Arce. “Fine! Thanks for the stupid pin!” I screamed at her. 

She was gone. And I looked laughable, sitting alone in the dirt alone while everyone else was in class. My knuckles hurt. My throat hurt. My eyes hurt. 

I fell onto my back. The leaves above my head looked too peaceful for all of the anger that still bubbled in my chest. I grabbed the pin and lifted it up to my face again. I could see my reflection in it, face all pinched and blotchy with red. 

“Stupid,” I grumbled and dropped my hand down to my side. I shut my eyes, willing the world to disappear. It seemed to get louder in defiance. The rustling of leaves as the wind blew. The subtle chatter of servants. The distant joyful screeches of some young students playing together. 

“Uuuuugh. Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“ _ Creck _ -” I jolted up. Rayna was standing there, looking down at me. No pity. No worry. No anger. 

She grinned instead. “You have to admit that was one hell of a take down.” 

I groaned and fell back again. Rayna just plopped down next to me, her mass of blonde hair getting in my face so I had to spit it out and shove it away. 

“And all that blood. Holy crap. I thought you broke her jaw or something.”

I groaned again and pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. 

“Don’t worry. It looks worse than it actually is. I think you just split her lip and gave her a nose bleed. She’ll be back to normal and getting on everyone's nerves in a couple of days.” Rayna ripped up some grass and let it blow out of her fingers like confetti over our faces. Her voice got quieter. “Do you want me to get Olivia? Or Paige?”

“No.” I’d rather not have even more people to know. Be all sorry for me. Or angry at me. 

“Do you want me to leave?”

“... no.” 

She didn’t say anything. Just took a blade of grass and put it to her lips, blowing into it so it would make the elephant sound. After a couple minutes of spitty, useless blowing I let out a chuckle.

“What? It's hard, okay? I’d like to see you try.” 

I plucked a good size blade and positioned it between my thumbs. After a couple tries I managed to get the whistle to go. Its loud trumpet sounded across the grounds. We both burst out laughing. 

“How?! That's so unfair!”

“Eh, you're just a sea girl. Here, line up the joints of your thumbs and make sure the grass is taut.” I lifted up my hands so she could see. 

“ _ Taut _ ,” Rayna snickered to herself. I shoved my elbow into her side. But she followed my instructions and managed to get her grass trumpet to go as well. We spent the next couple minutes disturbing the calm quietness of the grounds. It was great. 

I sensed a shadow approach and I sat up. Espie was standing there, tucked in on herself nervously but gave me a small smile. “Sorry, um, are you okay?” 

“Arveles! Is our entire grade going to come check up on me?” I flopped back down. 

“Oh, sorry,” Espie squeaked.

“Ignore her, she’s just being angsty.” Rayna shoved my face with her hand. “Come lie down.”

Espie hesitated for a moment before carefully sitting down a respectable distance from us. “This is… nice?”

“Yup. I’m bored.” Rayna jumped up and stretched out her back. “Lets go do something fun! I mean, the Headmaster already said we don’t have to go to class for the rest of the day.”

“She didn’t really, she said go back to your dorms,” I corrected.

“Same difference! It's Friiii-day! Let's steal some food from the Dining Hall. Or sneak into the boy’s dorms and play some pranks!”

“Or something that won’t get me in more trouble,” I commented dryly, but still sat up. 

Rayna clapped her hands. “Lets go riding! I wanna see if you still remember how to even get on the horse.”

I stood up at that, always loving a challenge. “And I wanna see if you're still as slow on horseback as you are with a blade.”

Her dark blue eyes glinted. “You're on, Ives.” 

“Um, guys?” Espie interrupted politely. “Sorry, but your stuff is still in Debrot’s. I was going to try to bring it here, but it's kind of a lot…” The rest was self explanatory: Espie was almost as small as Olivia. 

“Right, we’ll grab it and then drop it off at our dorms. I need to get out of these skirts anyway.” I pulled up the bottom of my dress. I had trousers underneath, like always, but if I wanted to actually ride I didn’t want the extra fabric. 

Rayna just smiled and squatted in her tunic. Nifheilm fashion was so much better when it came to combat and riding. So less  _ gendered _ . 

“What are we waiting for then?” Rayna and I headed towards Arce, but Espie lingered back a moment. Rayna turned to her and grinned, “You coming, Esp?” 

Espie looked up, somewhat surprised, but that quickly morphed into a small smile as she nodded and headed after us. 

+++++

“So you can’t wish for love. You can’t wish for death. And you can’t wish for more wishes,” Rayna counted off the rules as we lugged our bags down the hall to the main foyer. “But what if you asked for another genie? Fresh genie, fresh wishes?” 

I scratched my face while I mulled it over. “I feel like they would still get around that though, like maybe the new genie had all of their wishes used up?” 

“But they have like an unlimited amount of power right? It's just three wishes per customer, there's no rule about going to different shops!”

I snapped my fingers, “What if you wished that your life was so perfect that you didn’t need to wish for anything?” 

Rayna paused for a moment. “That’s boring.”

“Yeah, your right.” 

Epsie gave a tiny chuckle from where she was following us. 

We reached the double staircases, and I jumped up onto the smooth marble railing and glided down the rest of the way. Rayna copied me, except she went down backwards, hugging the railing like she was trying to wrangle a pig. Espie took the steps. 

After going to Arce longer than anyone else in our grade, I had grown a certain informality with the place. It was practically my second home for a long time. It definitely is now. I remembered playing hop-scotch on the black and white checkered floors. Trying to climb up one of the big pillars. That’s how I found out they were once painted red, cause when my mom dragged me down, I had flakes of the color all over the front of my dress and hands. I knew every hidden alcove, every dusty corner, every secret place of Arce. 

The castle was ancient, but the foyer of the Main Hall was always kept pristine. It was the grandest of first impressions whenever new students arrived. Polished suits of armor stood guard between the endless windows. The ribbed and curved ceiling felt miles above you, balancing miraculously on ornate columns. A golden chandelier bigger than my bed hung from it. The candles were only ever lit for special occasions, but the light reflecting off the gold made it sparkle anyway. Paige had shown me once how they actually light the thing, holy shit it looked terrifying. 

Mainly, the foyer was a crossroads. Corridors led down to the Dining Hall, or the two younger students’ classrooms on the bottom floors. Then a pair of matching staircases curved up to the balconies above that deepened into the second story. That's where all of my classes were. The floors above that were a bit less obvious to get to, that’s where the castle started to split off into towers and parapets. So if you didn’t know what twisted staircase led where,  _ good luck _ . The professor’s rooms were up there, along with a small observatory, the rooftop gardens, the music rooms and art studio. The only times I really went higher than the second floor was for the library… and my mom’s office. 

Rayna and I waited at the bottom of the stairs as Espie caught up. “What's that?” Rayna poked at my chest, where I had pinned my mom’s broach. 

I didn’t bother looking at it. “Oh, it's just some heirloom-”

“Is it magic?”

“What?” I looked down at it then. The gemstone was glowing. Or rather, the star in the center of the black stone was. “AHK!” I quickly unpinned it from my chest and dropped it on the floor. It  _ tinged _ when it hit the ground, but the broach didn't break. And it didn’t stop glowing. 

“What if it explodes!” Rayna knelt down to get a better look at it. 

“I’m pretty sure my mom wouldn’t give me a magic bomb to wear around…” My thoughts trailed off though. Rayna had shoved her hair out of her face as she bent down, and tucked it behind her ear. “Holy shit, your earring’s doing it too.” 

Rayna’s hand flew to her ear cuff. “Really?! What do you think it means?” 

“Oh, you mean to tell me all of your jewelry doesn’t randomly glow?” 

Rayna’s eyes grew big. “Does yours?”

“ _ No _ .” I picked back up my broach. It wasn’t really doing anything, just glowing. “I literally got this like an hour ago. How am I supposed to know what it does.” 

“Um, guys?” Espie piped up. She was down the steps now, and standing by the wall that was shadowed underneath the right staircase. A large tapestry hung there. It had the school’s emblem stitched into it, alongside Castiland’s coat of arms: a green swallow upside down on a checkered background. Her hand was raised, and her ring was glowing too. But it was brighter, almost blinding, where she held her hand against the weaving. 

“Maybe everyone  _ does _ have magic glowing jewelry…” Rayna mumbled in awe. 

We approached where Espie was standing, and our gems started to grow brighter as well. I pushed the tapestry to the side, it was  _ heavy _ and a rain of dust fell down on us. After some coughing and wiping of our eyes, I looked up to see just a blank stone wall. 

“What…?” I ran my hand over the dusty rock. Espie and Rayna came closer as well, so I let the tapestry drop behind us. We probably looked like a couple of kids really poorly playing hide and seek. The gems illuminated our faces as the heavy cloth blocked out the rest of the light. 

“Here,” Rayna fitted her finger into a crack in the stone. “There's something behind it…” 

My eyes searched the area Rayna had found, and there were two other holes in the wall. Something,  _ gold _ was behind them. 

“They look like keyholes,” Espie whispered. 

I held my pin up next to the hole closest to me. It was a perfect match. “And we have the keys?”

Rayna took off her ear cuff and held her opal up to the next hole. Espie did the same with her ring. 

I took in a shaky breath, “Count of three?” 

The other two nodded. Espie looked terrified. Rayna was beaming with excitement. 

“One… two… three!”

“Wait, on three or after three—oop!”

We all pressed the stones into the keyholes. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the wall  _ shuttered _ . We all stepped back as the rest of the stone crumbled away into dust at our feet, before disappearing entirely as if it had never existed. 

There, standing before us, glimmering in the softened light of our gemstones, was a golden door. It was fitted perfectly into the surrounding wall, as if it had always been a part of the architecture. Intricate carvings were engraved into every inch, spiraling around to the center where our three stones were placed. The door was beautiful, but also slightly tarnished. As if the light and dust and air had always been wearing away at it, not that it had been protectively hidden by a wall of stone. It felt like a relic. Almost, holy. Never to be touched.

I ran my hand along its engravings, coming to rest where the doorknob should have been, but wasn’t. Instead, there was a subtle indent, perfectly sized for a handprint. I pushed. 

The door opened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duh duh DUH
> 
> one of these days I will learn how to spell armour, today is not that day


	10. Ch. 8 - Autumne - (not) Alone in the Woods

I took in a long, deep breath. The cool stream water trickled over my bare feet. The wind swirled around me. The town and the people all disappeared. I could see into the tree line from where I stood. Soft patches of sunlight dancing through the canopy, creating stepping stones of light in the shade of the woods. Inviting me into its mysteries. 

I stepped closer.

Paige and Olivia were still busy with the blacksmith. Just a quick peak, a glimpse. And then I’ll be right back. 

I tiptoed up onto the mossy bank and walked into the forest. 

My father used to say, “ _ Les gens grandissent comme les arbres d’eux. _ ” <<People grow up like the trees around them.>> And I could see Pennbrooke in these trees. Many oaks, tall enough to make their branches twist among the clouds. But also sturdy fat pines with long nimble needles that coat the ground. Gentle trees. Quiet trees. Unassuming, but filled with old knowledge. 

In Villdeurvanne, we had ash trees everywhere. Smooth bark, dense leaves. Droopy branches in the spring when the seed clusters grew. In the spring, the ash trees would flower, and it looked like cotton had gotten caught in their branches. So much of my little kingdom was packed with cities that the only greenery you saw outside of the palace walls was tiny parks, or borders of streets. From the palace view looking down, it was almost as if we had roads made of leaves. 

I bent down to examine a cluster of fungi that had sprouted from a fallen log. The pine needles pricked at my bare feet, but I didn’t mind. The mushrooms were a dark orange and arranged like fairy shelves. I was debating in my mind if the mushroom was  Trametes Versicolor or some very young Laetiporus Sulphureus when a branch snapped behind me. 

I froze. 

No other sound was made. It could be nothing. Just a little fox. Or a pinecone falling off a branch. Or, it could be something that’s waiting, like I am. 

Slowly, so slowly I could feel my joints shifting individually, I stood up and looked over my shoulder. It  _ was  _ waiting. And watching me. 

Yellow eyes. Opened wide, but pupils like pinpoints. Focused right on me. Its feathered head was squashed into its neck, trying to make itself as small as possible. Which wasn’t doing much. The hippogriff was the size of a full horse. It had its wings down and covered the rest of its body, like I had caught him naked. One front claw paused midway in the air. 

“ _ Bonjour _ ,” I whispered. He didn’t even blink. I turned around to face him directly. There was maybe fifteen feet between us. I watched as he placed his front talon onto the ground, almost silently. Except the shackles rustled through the undergrowth. I swallowed. <<You’re supposed to be dead.>> I told him softly. 

The hippogriff kept his eyes locked on me, utterly terrified. It was that same beast from the first day, it had to have been. The rusted chains digging into his ankles. The scars, thankfully more faded, still marred his hide and beak. He was painfully thin, ribs visible through the patchy hide. The Headmaster announced that the soldiers had killed the hippogriff. Why would she lie? Why did they end the hunt? 

Not that I was complaining about the latter. Creatures like this, even if they had magic flowing through their veins, they were innocent. They shouldn’t be hunted down.  _ Eradicated _ . 

I evened out my breathing and straightened my shoulders. Nothing aggressive. I just needed to look calm and secure. I stood like that, just looking quietly at the hippogriff for maybe 10 minutes. Maybe more. 

Eventually, he untucked his head, drawing it closer to me to catch my scent. His wings folded up into his sides. He took a step to me. I didn’t back away. 

Hippogriffs didn't eat anything bigger than a lamb, if that. I was safe... from being eaten at least. 

Eventually, the shy creature was only a couple of feet from me. It was then I realized how young he was. I had read all about hippogriffs in the Bestiary. Grown adults were supposed to be the size of a mare. This little guy was tall enough, that was for sure, but he was still wiry with youth. And so curious, so trusting of humans. <<Even after what they have done to you…>>

I carefully lifted the back of my hand. The hippogriff froze, shoulders tensing. The pine needles by his feet started to smoke. I left my hand suspended between us. His eyes darted between mine and my hand. Cautiously, he approached again, bringing his razor beak just inches from my bare skin. I could feel the hot and sticky breath as the beast took in my scent. 

Hippogriffs were social animals, desperate for companionship. I had read of herds of thirty of them in the Outlands. 

" _ Calmez-vous. Calmez-vous _ ,” I cooed. My fingers twitched up to touch his beak. Immediately, the hippogriff squawked and snapped at my hand. I barely jerked it back in time. I stumbled back, falling into the dirt. The beast loomed over me, smoke curled from its nostrils, eyes alight in panic. 

I swallowed, trying to regain control over my racing heart again. <<I will not hurt you,>> I tried to make my voice as clear as possible. The monster continued to snarl at me, talon clawed into the forest ground inches from my leg. 

It was a last ditch effort, but maybe it could work. 

I started to hum. 

The ancient spell taught to me so long ago. The one I hadn’t truly sung since that day. Even without the words, I could feel the magic react in the air. I reached into my pocket and wrapped my hand around the ribbon with the citrine gemstone on it. I knew it was glowing, a soft yellow light. The moss beneath my fingers bloomed. The orange leaves above my head lifted up into the sunlight. The whole forest quieted to listen. The birds perched up in the branches and stopped their songs. The squirrels scurrying for acorns paused their frantic search. The hippogriff calmed and leaned away from me, his orange eyes curious again. 

I continued to hum as I gently stood up. The miscellaneous little plants by my bare feet curled towards me. The yet-to-be-identified mushroom on the log behind me crept further along, edges rippling with new growth. 

Eventually, the song came to an end. The forest seemed to take in a breath, and then return to normal. The plants straightened. The animals went along on their way. But the hippogriff remained, head crooked to the side as he stared at me. 

<<I cannot help you now, but I will. I promise.>> I nodded slightly, a small goodbye. The beast seemed to understand, almost mimicking me with a little head tilt of his own. I walked slowly away. I could feel the hippogriff watching me the entire way, but he did not move from the spot. 

Once I was far enough away, I burst out into a sprint. My boots jostled around where I had tied their laces to my belt. Rocks and thorns scraped my feet, but I didn’t have enough time to shove my shoes back on. I needed to get back to Arce as  _ fast as possible _ . I needed to get my medicine bag, and some food for him, and something big enough to cut those chains—

My foot smashed into a stone that jutted out of the ground. I was sent crashing into the ground. “ _ Putain! _ ” I cursed as I clutched my toes. Okay,  _ now _ I’m going to put my boots on. 

I glared at the accusatory rock, but there was something off about it. It was too square. I looked around to see I had come to a small clearing, similar stones scattered across the ground. Half-fallen walls stood among the trees. Were these ruins?

I got my shoes on and stood up to examine the crumbling stones. <<Ooooo, I am lost…>>

“Autumne? Is that you?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its a short chapter, but you guys don't know how long I spent researching mushrooms for that one throw away line. 
> 
> btw, << >> is quotes for translated french sentences that she is speaking out loud.


	11. Ch. 9 - Paige - The Tower

Olivia pushed the golden door open. I don’t know what I was expecting. Perfect golden stairs to match the door? Maybe some fairies or something flying around.  _ Something magical _ . 

It was just a staircase. Plain stone, like all of the other walls. It was dark, the only light filtering in from the open doorway. The air was stale and still. I could see the layer of dust that coated everything. The only magical thing about the stairwell was that it was still standing.

I reached up and plucked the two gemstones from the door. They popped right off. A bit of relief washed over me. For a second I thought they had been fused or something to the magic door. I handed Olivia her amethyst and she clicked the charm back onto her bracelet. I re-tied my necklace and tucked it safely under my collar again.

Olivia stepped into the curricular room, brushing some of the dust off of the metal railing that curved up and around. I followed, squinting up to try and see the ceiling. I tentatively got up on the first step, then the second and bounced up and down a bit. Olivia looked at me curiously. I shrugged, “I think it’ll hold our weight.”

Olivia nodded and then looked up to the top of the stairs. It was hard to read her face in the low light, but she had this sort of determination to her. Not really curiosity, or cautiousness. More like this was a task that had be accomplished  _ correctly _ . 

She marched passed me on the steps and started up the tower. “Come on.” 

For a split second I thought of Autumne. We were supposed to be looking for her. To make sure, ya know, the Heir Princess of Villdeurvanne hadn’t been kidnapped. 

I looked up to where Olivia was already halfway to the top. The emerald felt strangely warm against my skin, even though the glow had stopped after the door opened. 

I dashed up the stairs to catch up with her. 

We circled up and around until finally the steps led into the chamber at the top. The room was octagonal, wider than the stairwell had been. It was warm, probably from the light that shinned through the windows. I blinked a couple of times, trying to get my eyes to adjust after being in the dim stairwell. The dust that floated softly in the air sparkled in the yellow sunshine. The floor was a light wood which creaked when we walked across it, but it seemed strong and sturdy. A massive floral rug filled the center. Bookshelves lined all of the walls, but there were few actual books. Instead there were porcelain figurines of ballerinas and fairies and woodland creatures. There were glazed dishes brimming with rusted jewelry. Painted pots with dried flowers and branches. And other knickknacks which must have come from across the land. Delicate wooden fans from Fenghuang. Ornate goat bells from Kang-ri. Rich metallic quills from Ridire Ceo. 

But what really took my breath away was the glass orbs. Dozens of them were strung from the rafters, catching the light at different angles and scattering tiny rainbows across every surface. 

I walked over to the big wooden desk which was pushed up against the wall. Half burnt candles of all different shapes and sizes were lined up along its end, the melted wax sticking them to the table. A thick leather bound book rested there. I blew off the layer of dust, most of the particles blasting right back in my face, causing me to cough. 

Carefully, I opened the cover. The ink was faded and the handwriting was shaky but carefully spaced. Like how it would look if you were trying to write with your wrong hand. It read:

~~_ Reluckent _ ~~ _ Property of Briedda Kent.  _

I flipped to the next page. 

_ Today is my birthday. Fide gave me this  _ ~~_ jornal _ ~~ _ journal so I can pra c t i c e my writing. I hate it. BUT he is over my sh o u l d e r right now to make sure I AM USING IT. I know, here is how I will practice:  _

_ Fide is stupid. Fide is stupid. Fide is stu… _

The next couple of lines continued like so. I chuckled to myself. But then my eyes caught the date carefully scribbled in the top right corner. I gasped, sucking in a lot of dusty air. 

After a bit of hacking, I called Olivia over from where she was looking at the high view from out the window. “You need to see this.” She came over to my side and looked at where I was pointing on the page. 

“June 21,  _ 1349 _ ,” She read. “Crowns, Paige this is—this is before the war. This is, I can’t even do the math, 300 years old?!” 

I pulled my hands away from the paper, suddenly afraid it would disintegrate from my touch. Olivia reached out though, and started flipping through the next pages. The entire book was almost full of writing, and I smiled a little when Olivia got closer to the back cover and the script was neater with no crossed out words. 

“She must have been a lady,” I mused. “To live in a castle like this.” 

Olivia nodded. “Must be, but I’ve never heard of any Kent family.” She closed the cover so the book looked exactly and it had before, minus the dust. “But with the war, I’m not surprised we don’t have records.” 

I tucked my hands into my pockets and strolled around the room. For a second I let myself imagine. The room, clear of dust and full of fresh air, the distant sounds of servants bustling about in the castle below. The woods gone, and a clear view of Pennbrooke from the windows. A young heritor girl spending hours in this room, held up and away from the world. Blissfully ignorant of the on-coming storm. 

I stopped by one of the windows. There was a thin film of dirt on the glass. The wooden window jack rested on top of the frame. I took it and pulled open the bottom pane. It stuck a little bit, but I managed to get the frame to slide and I fitted the jack to keep it open. Crowns, the fresh air felt amazing. 

But the moment I stepped away, a massive gust of air blew into the room. It whipped around violently, causing the dangling glass orbs to swing madly and clink into each other. Olivia and I immediately went to the shelves, trying to keep all of the delicate knickknacks from flying off. But the wind was insanely strong, I struggled to stay up on my feet, eventually gripping the shelves up to keep myself up. Multicolored leaves were scattered around from the trees outside. The fans and quills went flying. The journal on the desk was blasted open. I immediately darted over to it, snapping it shut before its pages could get torn out. It suddenly felt much more precious than any of the jewelry that crashed to the floor. 

Another book which was tucked away on top of one of the cases was ripped to the floor, its covers busting open on impact. 

And the winds calmed. 

And the chaos settled.

And Olivia and I could only watch in awe as a breeze so gentle I could barely feel it fluttered into the room. It swirled around one of the fallen quills, spinning it in circles until the feather caught and was lifted off the ground. It danced around the room for a bit before settling on the blank open page. The tip of the quill touched the paper, and it began to  _ write _ . 

Olivia was immediately there, crouched beside the book as the enchanted breeze swept the quill across the paper. I remained glued to my spot by the desk, hands still protectively keeping the journal closed. 

Olivia noticed my absence, but didn’t tear her eyes from the magical moving quill as she waved me over, “ _ Paige _ . You  _ need _ to see this.”

Reluctantly, I inched my way over, mumbling to myself the whole time that this was  _ dangerous _ and _ we just nearly died _ and  _ how it probably a bad idea to get  _ closer _ to the magic wind _ . 

I kneeled down next to her as the quill finished its sentence, pecking out a period at the end and then waiting expectantly at the corner of the page. 

_ It took you long enough.  _

_ Greetings of all kinds. I am the Scribe. And, not to sound stalker-like, but it is a pleasure to finally meet you both. Olivia and Paige.  _

I leaned back from the book, my voice took on an edge. “You know us?”

The breeze returned and the quill flitted back to life. 

_ Not obscenely well. No. Definitely not. However, I have  _ heard _ much about you two. And I am in great debt to you both for finding my book. _

“What do you want?” I asked at the same time Olivia said: “Who are you?”

_ I am the Scribe. As I have previously mentioned, if you look back in the records. Though I understand your wish for more clarification than that. I worked for Miss Briedda for a number of years in court. I helped transcribe any meeting, translate any documents, organize any notes.  _

The quill paused for a moment, seeming to debate on whether it should go on. Instead it started a new line:

_ As to what I want, nothing of which can be acquired at the moment. But as to what I can  _ do _ , it is to provide information. That can aid you.  _

_ There is a … possible threat mounting. One of which I do not know enough of, and you have _ none _ of the context to understand.  _

_ What you need to know now is this: To communicate like so takes copious amounts of my strength. Therefore I cannot do it for very long. So I would prefer to not have to repeat myself multiple times, recorded in ink or not.  _

_ Find the others. Take my book with you. I will do my best to answer your questions then.  _

_ And please, find me a lighter quill.  _

The quill dropped to the paper. All of the air in the room went still again. Olivia and I just stared at it, the ink slowly drying on the page. 

I swallowed and fell back onto my butt. “Arveles,” I breathed. “ Did that just happen?” 

Olivia carefully picked up the metallic quill and closed the book. It was a beast of a book, made even larger by her tiny hands. The leather bindings were a faded red with a cord that could be tied around its middle to secure it close. A ribbon bookmark was squashed between the yellowing pages, tattered at its end. The book was so fat that there was a good four inches of just blank paper between the covers. 

Imprinted on its front in professional font was:  _ Volume V of Castiland Legislature Proceedings Year 1365.  _ And the first couple of pages was filled with the same somewhat messy handwriting of the Scribe, but this time much denser and describing old laws and notes that neither of us cared to read. The majority of the book was still blank. 

“Here, you can carry it in your satchel,” Olivia lifted the heavy book and motioned it towards my bag. 

I hesitated, taking a half step back. “You really think we should bring it with us?” I whispered, afraid the wind might hear and try to blow me out the window. 

Olivia bit her lip, thinking. “Yes.” She decided with a finality in her voice. “This… Scribe could be helpful. They must know things from before the war, from the Erased Age. All of the lost knowledge, now literally at our fingertips.”

“And this  _ threat _ ?” I crossed my arms. 

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “All of this could be lies, some trick. I’m not saying I trust the Scribe, but I think it would be more foolish to just put the book back and walk away. And if it's some trap, that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to get out of it.” 

“It's magic, you don’t know what it’s capable of.” 

Olivia looked at me for a long time. “True. But I don’t believe all magic is inherently evil.” 

I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. The glass orbs were subtly twirling from the wind, spinning the light in all directions. I reached for my emerald necklace. My necklace. The one I’ve had for forever. The one I had never seen glow until today. 

“Okay.” I opened my bag and Olivia slipped the book inside. It was so big I couldn’t even close the latch, so I just had to settle for flipping back over the top flap and hoping that no one could tell that the book peaking out of my bag was actually some sentient magical scribe that was hundreds of years old. 

“Right. We really need to find Autumne now,” Olivia gave a nervous chuckle. 

We both climbed back down the stairs, and out into the crumbling courtyard. I looked back at the tower, half expecting the golden door to be gone. For all of this to have been some hallucination. 

The door was still there. 

“We should head back the way we came and see if Autumne’s at the blacksmith,” Olivia planned out loud. I turned my attention back to her. Right. Blacksmith. That happened today. 

Then some twigs snapped in the distance. Our eyes darted to the direction of the sound. There a very pale girl was grumbling to herself, dressed in servants clothes that did not fit her, and wildflowers falling out of her hair. 

“Autumne?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People who put their text in HTML in here should be FEARED
> 
> (Briedda is pronounced Bree-ed-da, thought I should put this here cause I spent like 20 minutes trying to figure out how to spell her name so it would be pronounced that way while still actually looking like a name)


	12. Ch. 10 - Espie - The Tunnels

Arce is such a nice school, they said. Go and make some friends, they said. Break out of your shell, they said. 

I wrapped my arms around myself as we looked into the inky void in front of us. It was too dark to really see anything. Ivy had gotten the gems off the door and we were using their faint glow as light, but still it wasn’t much. I slid my pearl ring back onto my finger. I’d had that ring on me for years, and it could do  _ that _ ?!

Rayna took the first step and immediately slipped. Ivy and I barely caught her arms before she fell on her butt. Rayna just laughed brightly, “Oh hey, look at that! There are stairs!” 

We got her back on her feet and I stuck my hand out into the darkness. The pale light illuminated cold stone steps leading further and further down into more abyss. I swallowed. 

“Oooooo, do we have a dungeon?” Rayna grinned and started down the steps.

“For once, you might actually be right,” Ivy mused and followed her down. “Why else would they block it off? Oh shit, I hope there are skeletons down here, covered in  _ rotting flesh _ and  _ spiders _ .” She tickled Rayna’s side and the girl immediately shrieked. 

I was still frozen at the top of the steps. The tapestry was pushing at my back, almost forcing me to go and follow them. I really do want to make friends… but… 

_ Come on Espie _ . I balled up my fists and went down the steps after them. 

And down and down we went. I had one hand placed on the wall next to me, trying to keep my bearing as we went. It smelled musty, but the walls were dry. The glow of our gems didn’t fade anymore, but I could only make out Ivy and Rayna a few steps ahead of me. I couldn’t even see my feet. 

Then my hand brushed across something smooth. I squeaked and pulled back from the wall. 

“Keep up, Espie!” Ivy called. She was leading the group now, seeming to be perfectly fine in the pitch black while Rayna and I were stumbling every step. 

I tentatively brought my ring closer to the wall. It illuminated a gold panel among the rough stones. A handprint etched into its design, just like the door. I sucked in a breath and placed my left hand on the panel. If this explodes, I want to be able to still draw. 

The panel seemed to glow for a second, but it could have just been a reflection of my ring. But then a few other little dots of light appeared. More and more burst into life, spreading from where the panel was up onto the ceiling, then down farther into the tunnel. They were little gemstones, embedded into the rocks, glowing just like my ring. In fact, brighter than my ring. They looked like stars. I could see where we were going now, and the pathway which we came. I could see the bottom step. 

Ivy and Rayna were looking at me with wide eyes. I just mutely pointed to the golden panel. 

“Nice job Espie!” Rayna punched me roughly in my shoulder. I weakly smiled back at her. 

“You think they would have put that at the top of the stairs,” Ivy grumbled. 

The tunnel finally flattened out into a long corridor. Gemstones dotted the barrel vaulted ceiling, casting soft blips of multicolored light on every surface. Empty torches were hung on the walls every couple feet or so. The floor was completely mosaic. Painfully detailed patterns of vines and geometric flowers. Occasionally an animal or a person. There were frozen scenes of hunters chasing deer. Ladies in waiting attending to a queen. Young boys training with swords. The lights above made the mosaic pieces shine and glimmer like precious stones. It was like we were walking through a gem-encrusted reliquary.

“I don’t think this is a dungeon,” Rayna whispered in awe. “ECHO!” She shouted down the tunnel. It reverberated off the walls,  _ Echo! echo! echo…  _

“And cue the cave monster which has now just woken up,” Ivy snapped her fingers. 

At first, the tunnels reminded me of the catacombs back home. My mother would take me down there every year to pay respects. The torches, the maze of pathways deeper into the darkness. But I had always found the catacombs suffocatingly big. The shadows stretched for miles, you could never see the end. Never know what was hidden in them. 

But no, these tunnels, they were softer. Lighter. A palace under the ground. I still had the pit in my stomach, but I wasn’t as afraid anymore. 

Ivy and Rayna started racing on ahead, shouting cuss words to be echoed down the tunnel. 

Okay, but I also wasn’t that brave. 

When I caught up with them again, the tunnel opened into a circular room. More pathways branched off from it. I remained standing in the arch of the tunnel we had just come from. As beautiful as it was, I was not going to get lost down here and die. 

Rayna and Ivy circled around the room, peeking down the other tunnels and examining the big mosaic floor. “It's a map!” Ivy took up position in the very center, where the floor was intricately pieced together in a compass. In the middle, twenty different shadows sprouted out from her feet like a star. Like a sundial.

The floor had changed in design. It showed rolling hills, twisting rivers, little towns in the shattered tiles. “There's Arce!” She pointed to just before my feet. A squat stone castle with a big tree at the front was illustrated there. “And there’s the little bridge. And over there’s Penbrooke. And-wait. What's…?” 

Ivy walked over to the small town that she described as Pennbrooke. Rayna had been stomping on all of the little landmarks but went over to Ivy in curiosity. I looked down at the mosaic of Arce near where I was standing.  _ Alright, we won’t get lost, probably _ . I came over too. 

Ivy was squatted next to the town she had pointed out as Penbrooke. But she was pointing to a castle pictured next to it. It was somewhat similar to Arce’s design, but slightly smaller and with more towers. 

“Penbrooke doesn’t have a castle, right?” Rayna looked at us. 

I gave her the look of:  _ I just got here _ , and Ivy answered the question. “No. It doesn’t… Arce’s the only castle around for a good couple of miles.” She straightened up and looked down the long tunnel that the mystery keep was in front of. “We should check it out.”

“Oh, we should  _ definitely _ check it out.”

I sighed a little. 

We only needed to walk for a couple minutes before the bottom of a staircase appeared. I was right up with them as we ascended. The ceiling gemstones slowly dimmed and disappeared the higher we went, so again we were reliant on the faint light of our jewels. Rayna got a little too excited and slammed into the door when we got to the top. 

She held the bridge of her nose and wobbled a bit, “We’re here.” 

Ivy examined the back of the golden door while I did my best to make sure Rayna did not break her nose. After she took our stones and placed them in the slots, Ivy put her hand on the handprint and pushed. The door creaked a bit, but didn’t budge. 

Rayna laughed, “Oh creck are we stuck?”

I swallowed and Ivy batted at Rayna. “No, just give me a hand.” We all set up our footing and pressed hard into the door. It was  _ heavy,  _ but after a couple of minutes of pushing, the door shifted an inch. And then it burst open. 

All three of us were sent crashing onto the ground. I turned around to see the crumbling stone that had once been hiding the door disappear in thin air. There were also snapped tree roots hanging in front of the new opening. So that's what was stuck on. 

“Wo-o-oah. Where are we?” Rayna brushed the dirt off of her knees and palms, then gave me a hand to get up. 

We were outside, in some forest. The air was cool and fresh. The afternoon sun peeked through the canopy of trees. The golden door was pressed into a half fallen wall. Dirt had gathered on the backside, creating a small hill where a tree was growing from the top. Moss coated the ground, but it was far too hard to be earth. I took the toe of my shoe and scrubbed away a clump. Polished stone was underneath. More half walls outlined the area, a ghost of a room. 

Ivy had climbed up on the hill behind the door to get a better look. She squinted through the dense trees, but then froze. 

“What is it?” I called up to her softly. 

Her eyes were locked in the distance, brow furrowing a bit. “ _ Autumne? _ Is that you?” 

I turned to where Ivy was looking, peeking out behind a tree. There was another room-like area of ruins. But this area had a tall tower, completely intact among the old rubble. And two individuals dressed in servant’s uniforms standing in front of a golden door. Rayna raced up behind me, one hand laning protectively on my shoulder. But then she saw the two people and her face lit up, “Olivia! No way!  _ What are you wearing? _ ” 

One of the girls turned to us, facing becoming even more confused. Despite the uniform, I recognized her big round glasses and very short height. It was Olivia. Rayna and Ivy quickly went to greet their friends, I quietly followed. As I stepped out from my hiding spot, I caught another figure approach from my peripheral. The light blonde hair was unmistakable, Autumne, also wearing an Arce uniform. 

“What are you doing here?”

“We thought you were lost-”

“You won’t believe what I found!”

“Again,  _ why are you dressed like that _ ?!” 

“Okay, okay!” Olivia held up her hand and everyone quieted. “One at a time please. Ivy, Rayna, Espie-” We all straightened up. “-how did you get here?”

Ivy crossed her arms. “I think I should ask you the same question.” She turned to the girl with green eyes. I had seen her around Ivy before, and I was pretty sure she was a servant. “So you’ll sneak then out, but when your oldest friend asks-”

The servant girl scoffed, but it was with humor. “Ives, they actually had a plan-”

“I could have come up with a plan.”

“-and that is so  _ not _ the important thing right now.”

Rayna interrupted, “We just came in through the tunnels.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. 

A beat passed. 

“Secret tunnels?” Olivia’s inscrutable look shifted to more confusion than disbelief. 

“Yup.”

“Okay... Okay. Okay, yeah.”

“It was so crecking weird,” Ivy picked up the story. “We were just at Arce when our jewelry started glowing and then-'' She continued on describing everything we had found, Rayna popping in now and again to give her commentary. Autumne’s eyebrows kept going up until they disappeared completely behind her bangs. Olivia nodded the entire time, like none of this was phasing her. 

Ivy finished her explanation and shrugged as if this was another normal friday. Olivia continued to nod as she gathered her thoughts. Then she shifted and pointed to the matching golden door behind her, “So-”

I had to sit down about halfway through her explanation. By the time she had finished, we were all seated in some way or another. Autumne was criss-cross next to me. Rayna was squatted on top of a stone brick sticking out from the ground. Ivy was leaning against a tree. We sat in silence for a second, trying to digest it all. Another golden door, sure. An ancient tower, okay. A breeze that can write and a magic book. Oh boy. 

Slowly, every eye turned to Autumne. She glanced up at all of our expected gazes. “Oh, yes so I found the hippogriff.” Ivy’s mouth fell open, but no sound came out. “It was definitely the same one from Arce, I found him a couple dozen yards that way.” She pointed to the woods behind her. Everyone slightly shifted a bit in the opposite direction. “He looked very sick and malnourished. If we don’t do something  _ he will die _ . I was hoping to get food for him, but… now this has happened…” She raised her eyebrows at the rest of us, like this was all our problem that we had just dragged her into. 

“Right,” Olivia whispered to herself, but it was loud enough that we all turned to her. “I-well… right. We need to get back to Arce. We’ll grab supplies for the hippogriff there,” She added when Autumne started to say something. “We’ll help him. And then we’ll… figure out the rest.” 

Rayna jumped to her feet, landing just inches from me. I startled, accidentally ramming into Autumne. “GREAT! We can take the tunnels! And then you guys  _ have _ to show us the tower. What do you think hippogriffs eat? Isn’t it like a bird’s beak and a horse’s stomach? How does that work?”

“Oh, they are carnivores!” Autumne piped up helpfully. 

“Yay…” Ivy said sarcastically. 

Everyone had started to get up and follow Rayna to the tunnel. The actual-servant girl fell in step next to me. Her hands were shoved into her pockets. “Does anyone care that this is all very much illegal?” The group made a couple of non-committal noises. 

I slightly raised my hand. 

“Thank you! Sorry, I’m Paige by the way.”

I delicately shook her hand, her fingers were very calloused and cold. “Esperanza Paola Citlalic of Mañana. But everyone calls me Espie. It's nice to meet you.”

“You too,” She smiled at me, slightly apologetically for her friends. 

We came to the door down to the tunnels, it must have closed by itself while we were talking. But, it had changed too. Instead of three slots,  _ six _ keyholes appeared among the engravings. 

“Ohhh, I don’t like that.” Paige commented beside me. 

The five of us turned to Autumne, who was studying the gold door with wonder. Ivy coughed. 

“What?” She just looked back at us blankly. “Oh! I do! One moment.” She pulled out a long blue ribbon from her pocket, a yellow gemstone tied to it. It glowed as well.

We each placed our gems into the golden door. We pushed it open into the black abyss again. 

“Oh,” Autumne said disappointingly. 

“Here,” Paige took a small half burnt candle out of her satchel and a flint sparker. In a second she had a fat flame going which gave much more light than our gems. 

Ivy squinted down at her bag, “Have you always been carrying that.”

“Um yeah?” Paige said like it was obvious. 

We followed her down the steps and I managed to find the wall panel again to light up the ceiling. 

“ _ Oh _ ,” Autumne sounded much more impressed. 

As they walked further down, admiring the mosaic and glowing ceiling, Paige went up to one of the torches and put her candle to it.  _ FWOOM,  _ the torch burst to life. And then,  _ FWOOM FWOOM FWOOM.  _ The next torch down the wall lit as well, and the next. The tunnels became as bright as day. I hadn’t even noticed how dim it was before since the jewels were better than nothing, but now I could make out tiny writing inscribed in the mosaics. It was giving directions to where we were.  _ Aerie _ . Those were the ruins, the name of the castle.  _ Aerie _ . 

We all looked at Paige, but she was just as surprised as us. She quickly blew out her candle and stuffed it back in her bag. 

“Okay, but why the torches if there are already glowy rocks?” Ivy frowned at the newly brightly lite passageway. 

“ _ Mood Lighting _ ,” Rayna wiggled her eyebrows. Ivy groaned and shoved her away. 

+++++

Arce was empty when we came out from behind the tapestry. Classes must have finished for the day and there were few servants working in the Main Hall. 

Autumne and Olivia ran off to the dorms to change and get Autumne’s medicine bag. Our team was tasked with getting food, though Olivia had been looking mostly between Paige and myself when she said it. 

We went running down to the Dining Hall, hopefully to raid the pantry before the kitchen staff started on dinner, but we were too late. Some of the younger servants were already milling about doing prep work when Rayna pushed open the swing doors, causing them to crash into the walls and scare all of the servants. 

One particularly brave server boy approached us, “Um, what can I do for you, your highnesses?” 

Rayna put a finger to her chin thoughtfully. “Do you have any roast or steak or oh! Ham? Do you have a big ham?”

The server boy’s eyes darted around between us. “Yes… why?”

“We’re having a...um...ham party. Like a tea party, but with ham?” Rayna’s confidence started to waver. Ivy facepalmed. “And can we have the whole thing?” Rayna added. The servant looked at her like she had grown a third head. “I’m just really hungry.” 

“Okay then… one moment please.” The server boy gingerly took the two swinging doors and closed them on us. Paige covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. 

“Ham party?” Ivy whispered angrily.

“It worked, didn’t it.” 

“Let me do the talking from now on.” 

The boy returned with a huge wicker basket. A ham the size of a small child was wrapped up in wax cloth and seated in it. “Would you like anything else?” The boy asked cautiously. 

“No.” Ivy took the basket and slammed the door in his face. 

We all gapped at her. 

“What?” she said defensively. “Less talking, less questions.”

Paige sighed, “Yeah, that was totally inconspicuous.” 

We met back up with Autumne and Olivia at the tapestry. They had changed back into normal clothes and Autumne carried a heavy leather case with her while Olivia was trying to hide a massive pair of gardening shears. 

“ _ Arveles _ , what is that for?”

Olivia rested the tip of the shears on the ground, they were half her height. “Autumne said the hippogriff still has chains on, we’ll need something to break them.” 

“Oh this just keeps getting better,” Ivy mumbled. 

Autumne pushed past her and was already re-opening the door. “ _ Allez, allez! _ We do not have all night.”

+++++

The Hippogriff was actually very easy to find, considering he had apparently not moved since Autumne last saw him. 

The massive beast was laying down on the forest floor, and his head perked up curiously when we approached. 

“Stop here,” Autumne instructed. We all had silently agreed to have her take the lead. She turned her back to the hippogriff and took the ham out of the basket and unwrapped it from the wax cloth. Then she unlocked her medicine bag and slipped on two white silk gloves. She pulled out a glass vial, in it was a root, completely black except for white crystalized dots across its surface. 

“Nightroot,” Autumne explained. She looked up to all of our curious faces, dead serious. “It is extremely toxic to munveins. One bite, and you will sleep until you starve. But for macveins, especially large magic-blood monsters, it can act as a temporary sedative.” She uncorked the vial and took out the root. With a scalpel she also pulled from her bag, she cut up half of the root and placed the pieces between slices of the ham. She acted with such precision, I felt like I was watching a surgery happen, not a seasoning of meat. 

“Why do you have this?” Paige questioned in a hushed voice. 

“Oh, it grows all over. And there is this one experiment where you combine it with salt and put in a dish with-” She looked up from her work and saw all of our panicked faces. “Oh, well, I’ll show you later.” 

Autumne hefted the ham up into her arms and turned back to the hippogriff, who had been quietly watching us. “Stay here. Don’t move forward,” Autumne whispered to us. She then carefully approached the beast, stopping about ten feet away before gently placing the ham on the ground and taking a step back. 

The hippogriff took a sniff of the meat, then shakily got up on his legs. The shackles scraped together as the hippogriff stepped towards the meat. After a minute poking, the monster happily started gobbling up the ham. The entire ham was gone in a couple minutes, then the hippogriff started lazily wobbling. He laid down again, head flopping down onto the forest ground, and was out. 

“ _ Donc _ !” Autumne clapped her hands together, the hippogriff didn’t stir. “I have no idea how long that will last, so we need to hurry!”

We all jumped into action. Autumne knelt down beside the sleeping monster and started checking his ankles. They were a mess of dried blood and puss, but the dainty princess wasn’t phased. She just rolled up her sleeves and started shifting the metal shackles, trying to create enough space to fit the shears in. 

Paige and Rayna each held a handle as Autumne held the front claw away from the blades. Olivia and I were going through his fur and feathers, finding the spot where the arrowhead had pierced the hide. Ivy was keeping an eye on his face, making sure he didn’t wake up in the middle. 

Paige and Rayna clamped down with the shears, but as soon as the blades came in contact with the metal, there was a flash of light and a sharp sound. The iron shears broke in half. The shackles remained intact. 

“That’s enchanted metal,” Ivy advised. She left her post and came closer to the shackles. They did seem to glimmer strangely when she put her hand to the metal. “Whoever put these on knew what they were doing. If a hippogriff couldn’t break them, we don’t have a chance. But…” She turned the shackle so that the keyhole faced up. Then Ivy plucked a couple hairpins off of Autumne and started digging around in the lock. After a not-surprisingly short amount of time, there was a  _ click _ and the first shackle fell off. 

We all looked at Ivy, impressed. Rayna clapped a little. Ivy started work on the next one while Autumne started cleaning the wound. I caught a glimpse of it and gagged. Those shackles had been wearing away at the skin for at least a month. I was surprised it wasn’t down to the bone yet. 

Autumne’s dutiful fiddling froze for a moment and she looked up at us nervously. She swallowed. “So, we are all agreeing that whatever happens today, we are not telling anyone, right?” We all looked at each other, gathered around an unconscious hippogriff, and this being the least illegal thing we found today. We nodded, the silent pact made “Okay. Just… keep that in mind.” Autumne turned back to her bag and started digging through its contents again. She pulled out more strange vials filled with dried leaves and crushed salts. With a tiny mortar and pestle, she mixed together a thin slurry of ingredients. But, instead of putting the mixture on the wound, Autumne removed her silk gloves and spread the concoction across her palms. She then hovered her hands above the inquired leg. 

Her pale eyes darted up to us one last time before she took in a breath and started whispering. For a moment, I thought she was speaking another language, but the words didn’t sound Villdeurn at all. It was common, but unnatural. As she recited the words, a faint echo responded back, creating a ghostly chorus.

_ “Bind the bones _

_ Sew the sinuses _

_ Mend the muscles _

_ Return anew” _

The chant continued as Autumne closed her eyes and splayed out her fingers. The pale green mixture on her palms started to glow, light slowing increasing her entire hands. The medicine dried and started to flake off her hands, floating up through the light cast by the spell. The light seemed to incase the wound, making it so bright I had to look away. 

Then the chanting stopped. Autumne took in a breath, her voice now sounded strange without the echo. The light dimmed, all of the mixture was gone. I took a step closer to get a better look and gasped. The wound had closed. Fresh pink skin covered the once bloody mess. There weren't any feathers or fur, but it was healed. 

We all looked at Autumne in shock. Her eyes flitted around between all of us nervously. 

I spoke up for the first time in what felt like hours. “How do you know how to do that.” My voice had an accusatory edge, but it was too late to take it back. 

Autumne looked almost ashamed. “I have done a lot of research into different methods of medicine. I stumbled upon an old book with this spell. This is the first time I have really gotten a chance to test it.” She fiddled with her hands, starting to collect the bottles and baggies of ingredients on the grass and on her lap. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“No.” Paige asserted. Her voice was hard, but not with anger. It left no room for questions. “We won’t tell anyone.” Autumne let out a shaky breath. 

“Ivy, do you have the other shackles off?” Olivia turned to her. We took the cue and started working again. Soon, all of the chains were off and dragged away. Autumne repeated the ritual with the other three feet and the one wound where the arrow had pierced the hide. The shaft was actually still sticking out, just the back half broken off. Rayna volunteered to yank it out. At that point, I did have to excuse myself and try not to throw up in the bushes. 

By the time we had finished, the hippogriff looked so much healthier and cleaner, and Autumne looked like she was about to pass out. Bags had formed under her eyes and she looked paler than usual. “It takes energy to cast a spell. I should have probably spaced those out more,” she gave as an explanation. Rayna let her lean on her while we cleaned up all of the medicine and grabbed the basket. By then, the hippogriff started to stir. 

Everyone froze in place as the beast sleepily raised his head and began to stand. He didn’t seem to mind the six tiny girls gathered only a couple feet from him. Instead, the hippogriff stretched his legs out, giving a little squawk of happiness when he realized the chains were gone. Soon, he was prancing around the trees, wings flapping gleefully. I let out a breath of disbelief when he came around and tilted his head at Autumne, yellow eyes shining bright. 

Autumne grinned wide and put the back of her hand out to the beast. The hippogriff squawked again and pressed his beak into Autumne’s hand. The girl laughed in surprise and gently petted the monster’s head. 

“We should name him,” Rayna whispered. She was still supporting Autumne, so she was right next to the hippogriff as he tilted his head to the side so Autumne could scratch under his chin. “What about Hammy?”

“Nooo,” Ivy moaned. “Do something cool at least. Like Midnight. Or Skullcrusher.”

“But he’s such a sweetheart,” Olivia commented, taking a step closer. The hippogriff didn’t seem to mind. “Feather...something? I’m not good with names.”

“Bob,” Paige deadpanned. 

Everyone immediately protested that one. 

I took a step up behind Autumne, she was still petting the beast who had turned to putty in her hands. His golden eyes stared right at me. “Honeyhoof?” I said softly, sure no one would even hear. It was a sweet name, and sounded like a horse name. 

Autumne smiled brightly, “ _ Honeyhoof _ . I like it. It suits him well.” Autumne gave one last pat before taking her hands away. Honeyhoof looked to her expectantly. “You should go now, before anyone else finds you.” She nodded her head. 

The hippogriff copied the nod and took a step back. He stretched out his wings and started flapping. Everyone backed up to give enough room. Pine needles and leaves that had fallen to the ground were swept up as the winds gathered. The faintest bit of embers flickered at the tips of his wings. Then Honeyhoof started to trot, then gallop, before jumping up and bursting through the canopy. Multicolored leaves fell down on us as we watched the beast fly up into the sky and away into the distance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 80 hits! WOOOH! Thank you guys to much!


End file.
